Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama were seen bonding at Gala dinner hosted by Laos PM Thongloun Sisoulith.
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(Philippine Government via AP).
China has also objected in the past to India’s Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) undertaking exploration at the invitation of Vietnam in the SCS, which is believed to be rich in undersea deposits of oil and gas.
The Prime Minister has joined other ASEAN leaders in traveling to Vientiane of Lao PDR to take part in ASEAN Leader Summit.
The UN chief said that among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, only Laos has so far ratified the Paris Agreement, which contained mainly commitments or efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
“This is the third time I am attending these Summits”, Mr. Modi said in a post on his Facebook page yesterday, on the eve of his departure on the two-day trip.
The 28th and 29th ASEAN Leader Summits will run from today to September 8 with leaders from 18 countries in attendance, including the heads of China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, India and Australia.
He said an worldwide arbitration ruling on July 12 against China was binding and “helped to clarify maritime rights in the region”. The final version was not immediately released.
“Now we need the resources to put this plan into action”, he added. Obama brought that up again.
China shot back with comments aimed at the United States. “They continue to grow 5-6%” a year, he said.
Modi also said that India’s strategic partnership with Asean is also important for safeguarding and promoting security interests and countering traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the region.
Several southeast Asian littoral nations have disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea.
The ASEAN leaders also stressed the need for the “full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, without resorting to the threat or use of force, in accordance with the universally recognized principles of global law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)”.
China has turned shoals and coral reefs into seven man-made islands and built airstrips capable of handling military aircraft on three of them.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and leaders from ASEAN members attended the summit.
ASEAN, the sixth largest economy in the world, has become a region of peace and stability, providing favorable conditions for sustainable regional economic development, he noted.
Their meeting took place in the backdrop of steady decline in the relations over China’s technical hold in United Nations over banning Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Beijing stalling India’s bid to gain members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) besides CPEC.
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US officials, however, said there were other critical elements in the ASEAN statement that China failed to block, and which they said amounted to a strong diplomatic rebuke of Beijing. “If we can speak in one voice, we become much stronger because we speak on behalf of 630 million people”, said Najib. Each round is attended by 600 to 700 officials. 2017 will mark 25 years of India’s dialogue partnership with ASEAN, to celebrate which a number of commemorative activities will also be announced by Prime Minister.
