Panetta: U.S.-India relationship important

DELHI, India, June 6 (UPI) -- The United States' relationship with India is key to the Obama administration's strategic turn to East Asia, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday.

Panetta, speaking at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis in Delhi, told Indian leaders ties between the two countries must become stronger, the U.S. Defense Department said in a release.

The secretary said India is important because of its large and competent military. The country has 1.3 million people in the military and another million in the reserves.

Panetta said both countries are believers in following the "rules of the road."

"We share a commitment to open and free commerce; to open access by all to our shared domains of sea, air, space, and cyberspace; and to resolving disputes without coercion or the use of force, in accordance with international law," Panetta said.

Panetta is on a visit to Asia that began with a conference of defense ministers in Singapore. He announced there that in the future 60 percent of U.S. naval strength will be based in the Asia-Pacific region.

The secretary is following up on President Obama's announcement of a strategic turn in U.S. military posture.