With China’s growing aggressive stance in the Indo-Pacific region, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said India envisages a free, open, inclusive and peaceful region built on a rules-based order, sustainable and transparent infrastructure investment. He also stressed the need on mutual respect for sovereignty.
Making this assertion in a lecture on 'India's Vision of the Indo-Pacific' at the prestigious Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Jaishankar also said that Quad - comprising the US, India, Japan and Australia - is the most prominent plurilateral platform that addresses contemporary challenges and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific.
Jaishankar visited Thailand from August 16 to 18 to co-chair the ninth meeting of India-Thailand Joint Commission (JCM). This enunciation by the minister came as China has all along criticized the Quad combine claiming it will lead to militarization of the Indo-Pacific region.
India envisages the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to be at the centre of the Indo-Pacific, both literally and substantively, Jaishankar told the gathering which included members of Thai academia - researchers, scholars, think-tanks and students.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims.
Beijing has also built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade.
Moreover, Chinese and Indian troops are engaged in prolonged standoff in Eastern Ladakh. The two sides have so far held 16 rounds of Corps Commander Level talks to resolve the standoff which erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.
The US, Japan, India and Australia had in 2017 given shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the "Quad" or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China's aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region.
Jaishankar said Quad is the most prominent plurilateral platform that addresses contemporary challenges and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. "We are confident that the entire Indo-Pacific region will benefit from its activities," he said.
The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway has the potential of creating a completely new axis of economic activity in Asia, the minister noted adding the project has had its fair share of challenges but “we are determined to bring it to an early conclusion.
"As regards his bilateral talks with his Thailand counterpart Don Pramudwinai, the ministry of external affairs said in New Delhi on Thursday, both the leaders reviewed the progress made in areas of defence and security, trade, connectivity, tourism and people-to-people ties. The JCM, co-chaired by Jaishankar and Pramudwinai took place on Wednesday in Bangkok.
Jaishankar also called on Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha and conveyed personal greetings and good wishes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.