BackChina, tensions in South China Sea may dominate India-US meet
China, tensions in South China Sea may dominate India-US meet
PremiumFostering ties: Kurt Campbell, US assistant secretary of state for East-Asia and Pacific affairs, at the Narita International Airport in Tokyo on Sunday. Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
New Delhi: India and the US will have a dialogue on East-Asia in New Delhi this week that is likely to include discussions on China, tensions in the South China Sea, and the recent North Korean rocket launch, two Indian government officials said on Sunday.
Campbell is on a tour of several East Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea and Singapore, and will stop in India as well, the US state department said in a post on its website.
“Part of the US’s approach to the Asia-Pacific region is a deeper dialogue with India and encouraging India’s look east strategy, and so we will be talking about specific initiatives that we will be taking with Delhi to support that effort as part of our Asia-Pacific consultations with them," Campbell told reporters on Saturday ahead of his departure from Washington, according to the state department’s website.
India launched its look east policy in the early 1990s to strengthen economic and commercial links with the fast-growing South-East Asian economies, as the country opened up its economy.
The Indian government has been forging stronger political and military linkages with individual members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and East-Asian countries, besides becoming a dialogue partner of the Asean Regional Forum that discusses regional security cooperation.
Trade with Asean members totalled $58 billion in 2010-11.
During a speech in Chennai last year, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton urged India to not only “look" east but also to “engage east and act east"— suggesting India should play a greater role in the region.
Lalit Mansingh, former foreign secretary and ex-ambassador to the US, agreed that India’s focus at Tuesday’s dialogue “will be on China, increased Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean region, and tensions in the South China Sea."
China is wary of increased Indian interest in the South China Sea—believed to be rich on energy deposits and which China considers its backyard—and has issued several warnings against the Indian presence there. The latest warning last week came after foreign minister S.M. Krishna spoke about freedom of navigation and unfettered shipping links in the area.
India’s interest in the region stems from the pacts it has signed with the Philippines and Vietnam on oil and gas exploration.
According to the Indian government’s assessment, China’s unease stems from India having taken up exploration activity in an area close to Hainan, where a Chinese nuclear submarine base is located.
Last week, the Philippines and China were engaged in a stand off in the South China Sea after Philippine warships attempted to arrest the crew of a Chinese fishing fleet that had entered the territory, reports said. The confrontation ended when the Philippines recalled its naval vessels.
India is concerned about the increasing Chinese economic presence in the Indian Ocean region that it considers its sphere of influence. China is engaged in infrastructure development in Sri Lanka, for example, and it recently opened an embassy in the Indian Ocean atoll nation of Maldives.
India and the US will also discuss North Korea’s failed attempt to launch a rocket recently that had spiked tensions with South Korea and other countries in the region.
The US has been engaged in talks with the reclusive North Korea to persuade it to abandon its nuclear and missile programme.
In February, North Korea announced it was suspending major elements of its atomic weapons programme in return for food aid from the US. But the rocket launch made it difficult for the US to keep the deal, Campbell told reporters in Washington on Saturday.
India has little leverage with North Korea though last year the government sent one million tonnes of food in response to a request from Pyongyang.
During a visit to South Korea last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that India will appoint a defence attache in its embassy in Seoul.
The India-US dialogue on East-Asia is one of many that the two nations will be engaged in during the coming weeks as both prepare for the India-US strategic dialogue in Washington in June.
On Monday, Indian and the US officials will discuss political and military cooperation during a visit to New Delhi by US assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, Andrew J. Shapiro, the second official cited earlier said.
India and the US will also discuss counter terrorism cooperation during a meeting between the Indian home ministry and American homeland security officials later this month, the official said.
Ties between the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy have warmed considerably over the past decade with an intensification of economic, political and military interaction.
Reuters and AFP contributed to the story.
elizabeth.r@livemint.com
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