US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks in New Delhi seeking to bolster India as a regional counterweight to China and win backing for its position on Israel-Gaza crisis.

Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will join foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh for annual “two-plus-two” talks India has said will focus on “defence and security cooperation”, AFP reports.

“With India, we share the goals of preventing this conflict from spreading, preserving stability in the Middle East, and advancing a two-state solution,” Donald Lu, the top US diplomat for South and Central Asia, said ahead of the trip.