October 10, 2020

With over 10 days before the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the foreign and defense ministers of the two sides, which will reportedly take place on October 26 and 27, some Indian media outlets have already started hyping up a deal to be signed – the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for geo-spatial cooperation. They have a reason to cheer – the signing of the deal would mean the establishment of a basic military alliance between them. 

“Later this month India and the US are set to sign the BECA,” the Times of India reported on Friday, adding it can be a game-changer for China-India border row. 

Normally, the US has four foundational agreements with its defense partners, and it has signed three with India – General Security of Military Information Agreement, signed in 2002; Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, signed in 2016 and Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement, signed in 2018. Once Washington and New Delhi ink the BECA, it would mean the two sides will share classified military information, military facilities, highly sensitive communication equipment and geospatial maps. Their ties will reach the level of that between real military allies. 

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