Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called on neighbour China to respect India’s core concerns and interests, as he kicked off an annual international conference in capital New Delhi.
These are the first public comments made by the Indian head since Beijing vetoed India’s bid to sanction Pakistan-based terrorist Masood Azhar at the United Nations last month.
“In the management of our relationship, and for peace and progress in the region, both our countries need to show sensitivity and respect for each other’s core concerns and interests,” Modi said during his keynote speech at the opening day of Raisina Dialogue, a geopolitical conferences organised annually in India by foreign policy think tank Observer Researcher Foundation (ORF).
Last year, China also vetoed India’s entry into the international elite nuclear grouping Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). China at the time had based its rejection of India’s NSG bid on New Delhi not being signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a 1968 international agreement aimed at keeping the global nuclear stockpile in check.
The Prime Minister also called out Pakistan during his speech, saying that India was ready to engage in peace talks with its western neighbour but it had to give up supporting “terror”.
Modi said India’s domestic policies are closely linked to its foreign relations. “India’s transformation is not divorced from its external context. Our desire to change our country has an indivisible link with the external world.”
During his address, the Indian leader also noted that India and the broader world were entering a phase of multilateralism, an apparent reference to the economic rise of India’s neighbour China and its economic and military competition with America. Modi made a special reference to Asia, the region where the competition for global hegemony between China and the US is playing out more prominently than other parts of the world.
Modi also said that India and Russia continued to be “abiding” friends, remarks seen as an attempt to dispel a growing perception that Moscow is inching closer to India’s foe Pakistan, in reaction to New Delhi’s growing ties with the US.
Some excerpts of Modi’s speech, as tweeted by India’s foreign affairs spokesperson,
PM: I see the rise of India & China as an unprecedented economic opportunity for our two countries, & for the whole world pic.twitter.com/CcVMUonyf0
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2017
PM @narendramodi on relations with Pakistan:
India alone cannot walk the path of peace.
It also has to be Pakistan’s journey to make. pic.twitter.com/hWNw2612Gr— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2017
PM: The multi-polarity of the world, and an increasingly multi-polar Asia, is a dominant fact today.
And, we welcome it. #Raisina2017 pic.twitter.com/f2aCnZsUzd— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2017
PM: With the US, our actions have brought speed, substance & strength to the entire spectrum of economic, commercial, & security engagements pic.twitter.com/HZXTxrQ260
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2017
PM: Over the past 2 and half years, we have given a strong momentum to our engagement with US, Russia, Japan and other major global powers.
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2017
PM speaks on shaping the global agenda: True to our traditions, we have shouldered the international burden of our commitments. pic.twitter.com/7XbyDbQWFZ
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2017
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