The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission will convene its first public hearing of the 2026 reporting cycle next month, on February 17. The hearing will focus on geopolitical and military issues shaping India’s ties with the US and China, including border tensions with China, maritime access and competition in the Indian Ocean, and India’s expanding role as an Indo-Pacific security actor.
It follows a period of what officials describe as a calibrated easing in India’s posture toward China, reflected in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing for the first time in more than seven years, the reopening of air links suspended for five years, and steps by New Delhi to allow Chinese companies back into Indian investment and government procurement channels after the Galwan standoff.
Commissioners will also probe the economic and technological dimensions of India-China relations, focusing on trade and investment ties and India’s drive to build self-reliance in critical and emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and pharmaceutical supply chains — industries viewed by Washington as central to long-term strategic competition with Beijing.
Beyond the Beijing-New Delhi dynamics, the Commission will review US policy efforts to strengthen its strategic partnership with India and assess how India’s engagement with China could affect vital US economic and national security interests in the years ahead.
The timing of the hearing adds weight to its significance. It comes as the world undergoes a broader geopolitical shift, with major powers recalibrating alliances and economic strategies amid rising US-China rivalry. Over the past decade, Washington has invested diplomatically, militarily, and economically in India as a key counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific. India’s size, strategic location, and growing military capabilities have made it central to US efforts to limit Beijing’s influence across Asia.
IMPLICATIONS FOR US-INDIA STRATEGIC TIES
However, relations between Washington and New Delhi have shown signs of strain over the past year, from January 2025 through January 2026, complicating efforts to deepen strategic coordination. These tensions have raised questions within US policy circles about how firmly India can be anchored in an American-led security framework while maintaining its own strategic autonomy and managing ties with China.
The hearing also takes place just six weeks before President Donald Trump is scheduled to make a state visit to China in April 2026, highlighting the delicate diplomatic balancing act underway as Washington weighs engagement with Beijing alongside competition and deterrence.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created by Congress in 2000 under the National Defence Authorisation Act and is mandated to investigate, assess, and report annually on “the national security implications of the economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.” Its findings are closely watched on Capitol Hill and often shape legislative debates on trade, technology restrictions, and security policy related to China.
US TO COUNTER CHINA IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
In 2022, the commission recommended US Congress to direct the US Secretary of State, US Secretary of Defence, and Administrator of USAID to submit a strategy on US interests in the Indian Ocean region with considerations for competition with China in the region, including:
- Enhancing development and US economic activity in the region;
- Defending freedom of navigation;
- Supporting and facilitating regional allies and partners in addressing security challenges in the region;
- Promoting cooperation with US allies in the Indo-Pacific, including Japan and Australia, and major defence partners, including India, and NATO allies, including the United Kingdom and France, to support a rules-based order in the region.
The hearing will be co-chaired by Commissioner Hal Brands and Commissioner Jonathan N. Stivers. Co-chair Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Another prominent figure associated with the Commission’s work is Randall Schriver, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security and a former Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. Schriver previously led Pentagon policy for the region and has been a key advocate for strengthening US alliances and partnerships across Asia to counter China’s strategic ambitions.
Lawmakers and policymakers are expected to closely examine the Commission’s conclusions as the United States navigates a shifting Indo-Pacific landscape — one in which India’s choices between competition, cooperation, and strategic autonomy could shape regional power balances for years to come.
