Top diplomats and defense chiefs from India and the United States met Friday focusing on security issues involving the Indo-Pacific, China and the Israel-Hamas war.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. and India have a strong partnership and would discuss matters with implications for the future.

“The future is now,” he told reporters.

“We are promoting a free and open and prosperous Asia-Pacific, including by strengthening our partnership in the Quad with Japan and Australia,” Blinken said in remarks at the start of the meeting.

He also said that the United States and India are bolstering their partnership in international peace and strengthening a rule-based order.

Blinken also said defense cooperation was a key pillar in ties between the countries.

India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the situation in the Middle East was a big concern.

While India has condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, it has tried to balance its position by saying that “India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders, side-by-side at peace with Israel.”

“While the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are urgent issues, the more abiding challenge for both the U.S. and India relates to China and its revisionist orientation,” said C. Uday Bhaskar, a retired navy officer.