Without naming Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that strongest action should be reserved for those states that use terrorism as an instrument of state policy while outlining India’s principled stand on the South China Sea issue.
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“India will remain steadfast in the shared pursuit of regional, strategic political and economic priorities within the East Asia Summit framework”, Modi said.
“The time has come to isolate and sanction this instigator”, Modi added. Sea lanes are “life lines of global trade”.
The two leaders reviewed progress in the negotiations to improve India-ROK Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) besides discussing the United States dollars 10 billion financial package announced by South Korea for India’s infrastructure development.
China is involved in disputes with littoral countries of the region over the South China Sea particularly over the Spratly and Paracel groups of islands. But he says the USA wants these disputes to be resolved peacefully and will keep working to help make that happen.
India and South Korea today reviewed their bilateral strategic partnership and discussed ways to boost cooperation in key areas including counter- terrorism and maritime security in the region.
The meeting was “extremely warm and cordial”, Mr. Swarup said after the meeting. “Our partnership with ASEAN seeks to craft a response through coordination, cooperation at multiple levels”, he said. PM highlighted that enhancing connectivity is central to India’s partnership with ASEAN.
The India-Asean Summit on Thursday is being attended by leaders of 10 southeast Asian nations – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.
He invited ASEAN as the “Guest of Honour” for the International Buddhist Conclave in October.
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Meanwhile, ahead of the 14th India-Asean Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit here on Thursday, Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said that his country supports a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council (UNSC).
