With China flexing muscle in South China Sea and an international court recently ruling against its territorial claim in the region, India and US on Wednesday called for “utmost respect” for law and said there must be “unimpeded lawful commerce” throughout the disputed region.
Enunciating this in the joint statement after their annual Strategic and Commercial Dialogue here on Tuesday, the two countries also condemned terrorism in all its forms and reiterated their commitment to dismantle safe havens for terrorist networks such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, D Company and the Haqqani network.
The day-long dialogue was co-chaired by Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and her US counterpart John Kerry besides Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. Kerry called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
Apart from stressing the need for “freedom of navigation” in South China Sea, the joint statement also said the two countries will “redouble” efforts towards India’s early entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which was opposed by China. The US urged the NSG member countries to support India’s bid for their “common interest.”
About South China dispute, the two sides stressed the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, and unimpeded lawful commerce throughout the region, including in the South China Sea, the statement said.
Calling for “utmost respect” for international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the law of the Sea (UNClOS), they reiterated that States should resolve disputes through peaceful means, and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes.
On India’s NSG bid, the statement said in a further effort to strengthen global non-proliferation and export controls, the sides committed to redouble their efforts towards India’s early entry into the NSG. China had objected to India’s candidacy in the NSG plenary in Seoul in July to discuss its application.
The US also re-affirmed its support for India’s early membership of the other export control regimes — Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
As regards fight against terrorism, the statement said the two nations urged Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot terrorist attacks to justice. Moreover, India and US will continue to review and consider other organisations that warrant terrorist designations including those that engage in cross-border terrorism, the statement said.
Reiterating that defence ties form the bedrock of the bilateral strategic partnership, the two Sides recognised the importance of the announcement regarding India as a Major Defence Partner of the US and decided to take further steps expeditiously to enable greater cooperation in the area of co-production and co-development. To this end, the United States committed to elevate defense trade and technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with its closest allies and partners, the statement said.
On energy cooperation, India and US announced their intent to expand the work under the US-India Clean Energy Finance Task Force to include new clean energy finance initiatives for joint collaboration.
The US affirmed its support for pursuing its membership of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), an initiative by India.
The statement said the two sides noted the progress made in bilateral civil nuclear cooperation and applauded continued engagement between Westinghouse and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India ltd toward finalising the contractual arrangements by June 2017 to build six AP 1000 reactors that will provide clean, reliable energy to millions of people in India.