"India does share many US concerns regarding China," said Anupam Srivastava, director at the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia.

But New Delhi has conveyed "in very clear terms from the outset that it is not interested in being drawn into any such balance of power games in Asia or outside," Srivastava told AFP.

Washington spearheaded efforts that resulted this month in the Vienna-based Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) lifting a global ban on trade with India, despite New Delhi's refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The NSG waiver followed the striking of an India-US pact on civilian nuclear cooperation in 2005 between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush which still requires Congressional approval.

The financial incentives are obvious, with the United States expecting to be rewarded with a major slice of India's civilian nuclear energy market -- estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

But there are also geopolitical considerations.

Building India as a counterweight to China was "at least part of the motivation among some of the (US) decision-making circle," said Michael Quinlan from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

For decades, India had close relations with the former Soviet Union despite its official policy of non-alignment during the Cold War years.

But New Delhi recrafted its foreign policy after launching market reforms in 1991, focusing on improving ties with Washington -- a process that culminated in the nuclear deal.

Former Indian diplomat K. Shankar Bajpai said Washington's support for the pact and the NSG waiver had been lent with the expectation of exacting some leverage in return.

"Specifically, the US sees a strong India as an asset in a world in which China is the second world power," Bajpai said, while adding that India had its own firm ideas about the role it should play.

"One can accept American help in becoming strong without ganging up against China," he said.

India has its own set of concerns regarding its relations with its giant neighbour and economic rival -- ranging from a festering border dispute to fierce competition in securing energy sources to fuel their fast-growing economies.

India has also been upset by perceived Chinese moves to "checkmate" its own rise -- allegedly supporting arch-rival Pakistan with arms and economic aid and reportedly trying to block the NSG waiver last week, Indian officials say.

While India may baulk at the idea of being a counterweight to China, it knows it can reap certain strategic benefits from a closer relationship with the United States.

According to Srivastava, India-US collaboration in areas like counter-terrorism and maritime security are aimed at circumscribing "Chinese latitude and propensity for actions that could undermine economic or security equations across Asia".

India will continue to expand economic ties with China, but security relations "will remain disputed," he said, while at the same time New Delhi's policies will become "more convergent" with Washington's in security and technology areas.

Indian analyst C. Uday Bhaskar said India's entry into the global nuclear trading club had introduced "a certain degree of strategic equipoise" into Asia.

"Clearly till now, China has been the major power in unipolar Asia," Bhaskar said, adding many countries in the region were keeping a wary eye on Beijing.

"The wariness stems from the lack of clarity over how China is going to behave as it becomes even more powerful," he said.

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