Warning that China's motives to secure the South China Sea are "madness" and intended towards the Indian Ocean, a top visiting U.S. official said in unusually strong remarks that the U.S. will work to ensure India remains the "natural power" in the Indian Ocean, even as he expressed the U.S.'s commitment to help India attain membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. "As China works to secure the South China Sea as an area of strategic importance for it, it does so not with the intention of going into the blue Pacific, but with going into the Indian Ocean and broadening its presence in the Indian Ocean. So it is certainly our intention to work with India to have a strong and comprehensive presence there," said Thomas Shannon, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, on his first visit to India after taking over the senior position in April. "What China is doing in the South China Sea is madness," Shannon said, referring to U.S. allegations that China is building military installations on reefs in the South China Sea.