By PTI
NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday said it envisages a free, an open and inclusive and a rules-based Indo-Pacific with respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations in the region.
Riva Ganguly Das, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), also said that a comprehensive approach to maritime security should protect and support legitimate activities while countering traditional and non-traditional threats.
She was addressing the 5th East Asia Summit conference on maritime security cooperation.
The grouping of East Asia Summit (EAS) includes India, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia apart from 10 member states of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations.)
“India envisages a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific with respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations in the region, peaceful resolution of disputes, avoidance of use or threat of use of force, and adherence to international laws,” Ganguly Das said.
She said India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) is based on this vision and that it is an open and non-treaty based initiative that does not envisage creating any new institutional framework.
The evolving situation in the Indo-Pacific region in the wake of China’s increasing military muscle-flexing has become a major talking point among leading global powers.
Several countries and blocs have come out with their vision for the Indo-Pacific considering its growing strategic interests.
At the East Asia summit in Bangkok in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed setting up the IPOI to conserve and sustainably use the maritime domain and to make meaningful efforts to create a safe and secure maritime domain.
“As a nation deeply committed to strengthening the EAS as an ASEAN-led organisation, India continues to contribute positively to the EAS goals including maritime security cooperation,” Ganguly Das said.
“We are happy to have a valuable platform of EAS to take forward the objectives envisaged in IPOI and discuss the issues of common interests and address the common challenges in the domain of maritime security together,” she added.
China on Tuesday for the first time officially acknowledged the Indo-Pacific initiative, which it spurned all along, and recognised India’s and ASEAN countries’ outlook for a free and open Indo-Pacific region that gained traction among the South East Asian countries.
“China has noted India’s Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative,” Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here on Tuesday.
He was responding to questions on the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations which was presided over by President Xi Jinping via video link on Monday.
“I want to stress that China always supports ASEAN centrality in the regional architecture, and supports ASEAN in playing a bigger role in regional and international affairs,” Zhao said when asked to elaborate on the China-ASEAN joint statement’s reference to the strategic Indo-Pacific.
Asked whether China sees any complementarities between India’s Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative and the one which China and ASEAN talked about during Monday’s summit, Zhao declined to elaborate saying “I just made clear China’s position”.
In his address to China’s summit with ASEAN countries comprised of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam on Monday, President Xi said, “joint efforts are needed to safeguard stability in the South China Sea and make it a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.”
“We seek high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with ASEAN and cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
Observers noted that this was the first time Xi and China mentioned the term which is seen as an apparent official recognition to the Indo-Pacific concept that gained traction during the previous US President Donald Trump’s Presidency.
In October last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told the media here that the “Indo-Pacific strategy proposed by the US is preaching outdated Cold War mentality and preaching confrontation and geopolitical game.”
“It is aimed to uphold the hegemony of the US. This runs counter to the common interest for the region and we urge the US to stop this,” he had said.
Besides figuring in Xi’s speech, the Indo-Pacific prominently figured in the joint statement issued after the China-ASEAN summit on Monday.
“Reaffirming the principles of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), while recognising that it is ASEAN’s independent initiative, being open and inclusive, is intended to enhance ASEAN’s Community building process, and is not aimed at creating new mechanisms or replacing existing one, the joint statement said.
Significantly, the Indo-Pacific initiative figured prominently in last month’s 18th India-ASEAN summit as well.
In his address to the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and ASEAN’s Outlook for the Indo-Pacific are the framework for “our shared vision and mutual cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
A joint statement issued after the India-ASEAN summit said, “REAFFIRMING the objectives and principles of the AOIP, (ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific) which guide ASEAN’s engagement in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean regions to promote an IndoPacific region that embraces ASEAN Centrality, openness, transparency, inclusivity, a rules-based framework, good governance, respect for sovereignty, nonintervention, complementarity with existing cooperation frameworks.”
On China’s acknowledgement of the Indo-Pacific concept, observers say it is significant as China always referred to it as Asia-Pacific and rejected any engagement under it.
It was a step forward in one sense that China may find it difficult to oppose the open and free Indo-Pacific initiative as it agreed on its principles.
China on Tuesday said it may permit stranded students from the ASEAN countries studying in Chinese universities to come back early but continued to be vague about the return of over 23,000 Indian students stuck at home since last year due to Beijing’s visa curbs related to COVID-19.
Asked about the joint statement issued on Monday after the summit of China-ASEAN countries mentioning of the early return of the students from those countries whether Beijing will also permit students from India and South Asian countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told during a media briefing here that China will consider in a coordinated manner arrangement for allowing foreign students to return.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
“The Chinese government always attaches high importance to the issue of foreign students coming to China for their studies”.
On the basis of ensuring safety amid COVID-19, we will consider in a coordinated manner an arrangement for allowing foreign students to return to China for their studies”, he reiterated.
“At the same time, I stress again that in light of the evolving epidemic situation, China will decide on prevention and control measures in a coordinated way based on scientific analysis”, he said.
Since last year China has stopped issuing visas for Indians and currently, there were no flights in operation between the two countries due to which over 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine in Chinese colleges as well as hundreds of Indian businessmen and their families were stranded back home.
Similarly, students from the South Asian countries studying in China too were stuck in their respective countries waiting for Beijing to relax its travel curbs to return to join their studies.
