US and India want good engagement with China: Blake

The US and India want a good partnership with China and will continue to look for opportunities to engage bilaterally with Beijing, a senior Obama Administration official has said.

"China was discussed. I don't want to say China was a focus. I mean, we were much more focused on things like Afghanistan and so forth," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told reporters at a news conference, a day after the conclusion of the third Strategic Dialogue between India and the US.

"Both India and the United States want a good, strong engagement with China. We don't see our strategic partnership as coming in any way at the expense of China," he said.

"We will continue to look for opportunities to engage bilaterally with China, but also, as you know, we have offered a trilateral dialogue with China as well, that we hope that they will agree to," Blake said.