India, US pledge to work jointly for future of Asia
Leaders resolve to scale up relations beyond bilateral ties
MANILA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday pitched a vision of India and the US working together in Asia and the rest of the world during talks with President Donald Trump, reflecting the growing convergence on strategic issues between the two sides.
The two leaders met on the margins of the Asean Summit in the Philippines a day after officials of India, Australia, Japan and the US held talks to formalise a quadrilateral alliance for the Indo-Pacific, and Modi assured Trump that India would continue to fulfil the expectations of the US and the world.
The meeting of the Quad, as the grouping is being referred to, evoked a response from China, which said on Monday such cooperation should not be “directed at a third party”. The quadrilateral is being widely perceived as a joint effort by the four countries to push back against Beijing’s aggressive polices and its ambitious One Belt, One Road connectivity project.
The external affairs ministry spokesperson described the meeting, the third between Modi and Trump, as “warm and productive”, during which bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest were discussed.
The two leaders are understood to have discussed the regional security scenario and other key issues, such as measures to boost bilateral trade.
In brief remarks in Hindi before the meeting, Modi said India-US relations were “growing very rapidly” and becoming “deeper and very comprehensive”.
“I also feel that… these relations… are not just for our mutual interests, but they go much beyond that. And we are working together for the interest of the future of Asia and for humanity as a whole in the world. And there are many areas where we are working together and we can work together in the future too,” he said.
“And I would like to assure you that whatever the expectations are of the world, of the US, from India, India has always worked and made efforts to do our bit and to fulfill those expectations. And we will continue to do so in the future too.”
Modi also thanked Trump for expressing a “very high opinion of India” in recent public speeches.
Trump described Modi as “a friend of ours and a great gentleman doing a fantastic job in bringing around lots of factions in India…all together…It’s a lot of good reports coming out of India.” The move to revive the quadrilateral alliance, first mooted in 2007, has coincided with increased Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and its aggressive implementation of the BRI. Following the meeting of officials on Sunday, the members of the Quad issued statements underlining the importance of a “rules-based order” and “freedom of navigation” in regional waters – a nod to the position adopted by China in its disputes with several countries in the South China Sea.
The Trump administration, which has spoken of the importance of India in its new South Asia policy, has also repeatedly referred to the “Indo-Pacific” region in recent days to underline what it sees as New Delhi’s key role in the region to counter Beijing’s rise.