China in focus, Modi-abe may meet in Oct

NEW DELHI: India and Japan have restarted discussions to firm up dates for the annual summit between prime ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe, possibly around October, according to people familiar with the developments. The summit is expected to focus on an expansionist China that has been attempting to change the status quo on its borders with India, and in the East China Sea around the Senkaku Islands, they told HT.

The Modi-abe summit, initially scheduled to be held last December in Guwahati, was put off due to protests in Assam over the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Discussions on the next date were paused after the coronavirus spread across the world.

A defence white paper by the Shinzo Abe government released this week counted China’s aggressive moves in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and its “relentless attempts” to alter status quo by coercion as a key concern.

The Abe government, which had taken a lead role in crafting the quadrilateral security dialogue process in the Indo-pacific region, also noted that a regional cooperation framework “had not been sufficiently institutionalised” in the Indo-pacific region.

A government official said the summit could be held in October. It is not certain yet if PM Abe would travel to India for the summit as had been planned earlier or hold the summit meetings over video conference. “We expect a meeting between PM Modi and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte shortly,” the official said.