The latest US$3 billion US-Indian arms deal is partly motivated by their shared desire to check China’s strategic desires, but defence analysts said this closeness did not mean New Delhi wished to isolate Beijing. The decades-long rivalry with Pakistan is Indian’s biggest strategic concern, but Chaturvedy Rajeev Ranjan, a visiting fellow at NTU’s RSIS, said the growing Chinese influence in the region was also an important factor in the arms deal and other strategic agreements between the two.