Need to build guidelines for Indo-Pacific: Outgoing US envoy Juster

Emphasising the need to build guidelines and if necessary, "red lines" for the Info-Pacific region, outgoing United States Ambassador to India Ken Juster said on Tuesday that such an endeavor would enable all countries in the region to prosper.

In his farewell policy speech, Juster said the Indo-Pacific region needs stability and democratic governance, and that is why India is important.

He also asserted that no bilateral relations in the world are as broad and of such substance than the one between India and the US.

Juster was appointed by the US president on November 3, 2017, to be the 25th United States ambassador to India.

Underlining the importance of the Info-Pacific in US-India ties, Juster said, "We are now building out the foundation of a stronger Indo-Pacific architecture that will enable us to tackle the challenges that lie ahead."

"Our mission over the next five years and beyond should be to give this endeavour further form and substance to develop guidelines and if necessary, even red lines. This should enable all countries to prosper in a region that respects sovereignty, a rules based order and a peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law," he said.

Juster said as democracies, the US and India are committed to a rules based order as well as to peace and diplomacy.

"We (US and India) are both influenced by the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. But we know that not everyone thinks as we do and some choose suicide vests or military incursions," he said without naming any country.

"That is why the US and India committed to strengthening our defence and security cooperation," he said.