“Given China’s increasingly aggressive behaviour across the Indo-Pacific from the Himalayas to the South China Sea, it’s more important than ever that we work with like-minded partners such as India,” reported ANI quoting an US Administration official.

The statement comes just days ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to India. Pompeo will be accompanied by Defence secretary Mark Esper and the statement has set the tone of his visit to India-Sri Lanka- Maldives-Indonesia.

The US administration official added that while there were no plans for a Quad Summit in the immediate future, he refused to rule possibilities of such.

Also Read: ‘Pakistan continues to provide safe haven to terrorists,’ says MEA as FATF plenary begins

The Official said, “Regarding a Quad summit, there are no plans for that in the immediate short term, but anything could happen in the future,” as per ANI.

India is slated to conduct a Malabar mega drill alongside US, Japan, Australia in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea in November.

While India calls the drill a move seeking to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain, China has been apprehensive of its neighbour’s motive and has called it an effort to contain China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

While China has made repeated attempts to claim and assert dominance over the South China sea, the Trump administration has repeatedly rebuked such campaigns calling out Beijing over its wrestling of control in waterbody.

Also Read: Australia now India’s alliance in Malabar drill, Quad exercise likely next month

The US administration’s statements to counter the influence of China comes at a time when India’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy continues to deteriorate. India and China have been embroiled in a bloody border row in Eastern Ladakh since May.