it was not LSA. this is something different ..
ust before ushering in the New Year on December 31, US President Donald Trump signed an Act designed to counter the encroaching influence and growing threat from China and to reinvigorate US leadership in the Indo-Pacific region.
Calling for strengthening of diplomatic, economic, and security ties with India, the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) allocates a budget of $1.5 billion over a five-year period to enhance cooperation with America’s strategic regional allies in the region. The new law cites “China’s illegal construction and militarization of artificial features in the South China Sea and coercive economic practices”, and mandates actions for “countering China’s influence to undermine the international system”.
The Act notes “the increased presence throughout Southeast Asia of the Islamic State and other international terrorist organizations that threaten the United States”. The law states that US “recognizes the vital role of the strategic partnership between the United States and India in promoting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region” and “calls for strengthening and broadening of diplomatic, economic, and security ties between the United States and India”.
It reiterates US commitment to all “bilateral and security agreements and arrangements” between the two countries, including the New Framework for the United States-India Defense Relationship, and the United States-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative. Stressing the “designation of India as a major defense partner, which is unique to India,” the new law states that this designation “elevates defense trade and technology cooperation between the United States and India to a level commensurate with the closest allies and partners of the United States”.
https://indianexpress.com/article/i...relations-defence-army-airforce-navy-5519154/