PM backs ties with China but also Japan in dispute with Beijing

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi set the stage for his meeting with President Xi on Sunday as he said in Tokyo that given the current volatility in world economy, it is important for India and China, as 2 major economies, to work together to bring stability to the world economic order. He said India is ready to carry forward the relationship based on respect for each other's interests and sensitivities.

However, Modi later also joined his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba in expressing serious concern - in the India-Japan annual summit joint statement - over the situation in East China Sea , where Japan is locked in a territorial dispute with Beijing over the uninhabited Senkaku/ Diaoyu islands, and South China Sea.

Coupled with the first India-Philippines joint patrolling in the South China Sea earlier this month, the joint statement suggests India will continue to push back against any aggressive manoeuvring by Beijing in the region, despite the ongoing efforts to narrow differences and normalise the relationship with China. “India and Japan are fully committed towards a free, open, peaceful, prosperous, and rules-based Indo-Pacific,’’ said Modi, addressing the media jointly with Ishiba.

India and Japan also adopted a new declaration on security cooperation that is seen as more in sync with current realities and efforts to ensure a coercion-free Indo-Pacific that upholds rules-based international order. Both leaders also backed the Quad summit that India has to host this year.


Earlier in the day, in a newspaper interview, Modi underlined the “steady and positive” progress in ties since his last meeting with Xi in October last year. He said India is ready to advance bilateral relations with China from a strategic and long-term perspective on the basis of mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity, and to enhance strategic communication to address our developmental challenges.

“Stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbours and the two largest nations on earth, can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity,” said Modi, adding that this is also crucial for a multi-polar Asia and a multi-polar world.

Modi arrives in Tianjin in China on Saturday evening to participate in the SCO summit. His first engagement in China will be in the form of a bilateral meeting with Xi on Sunday morning.

Both India and China have sought to stabilise the relationship, saying that they should not allow differences to turn into disputes. It will be interesting to see if China reacts to the concern expressed by Modi and Ishiba over the situation in East China Sea.

Modi and his Japanese counterpart in the joint statement also reiterated their strong opposition to any unilateral actions that endanger the safety as well as freedom of navigation and overflight, and attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion. In remarks aimed at China, they shared their serious concern over the militarization of disputed features. “They reaffirmed that maritime disputes must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” said the India-Japan joint statement.