Modi named neither country in his speeches, but his twin attacks before top Asian leaders as well as US President Barack Obama were seen as a strategic move to send out a strong message against New Delhi’s nuclear-armed foes.
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The direct push to isolate and sanction Pakistan and the care to not escalate tensions with China, while sticking to India’s traditional posture on the South China Sea, reflect a tactical balance the Narendra Modi government is trying to maintain, senior officials told The Telegraph.
This is the third time that the Prime Minister is attending the ASEAN summit and the East Asia Summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today described Pakistan without naming it as a country “whose competitive advantage rests exclusively in producing and exporting terrorism”.
“We need to target not only terrorists but their entire support system”, Modi said.
Three days after he had singled out Pakistan at the G 20 meeting for spreading terror across the world, PM Narendra Modi again used a multilateral forum to slam Islamabad as an instigator and global exporter of terror.
He also made India’s stand on the South China sea dispute very clear asking all the parties to follow the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and desist from using force to resolve the dispute. Modi said India and most countries in south Asia are pursuing a peaceful path to economic prosperity, except “one” neighbouring country of India’s. Pakistan has in turn accused India of “state terrorism”.
In recent weeks, India has ratcheted up criticism of Pakistan, accusing it of inciting protests in Kashmir, while ties with China have been fraught over Beijing’s blocking of New Delhi’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
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“In South Asia, India and most countries of the region are pursuing a peaceful path to economic prosperity”, Modi said in his speech to the leaders of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries as well as those of Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the U.S. and Russian Federation who make up the EAS-a regional leaders’ forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on key challenges facing the East Asian region.
