India to brief China on its Indo-Pacific strategy, allay fears

NEW DELHI INDIA DOES NOT SEE THE INDOPACIFIC REGION AS A CLUB OF LIMITED MEMBERS, NOR AS A GROUPING THAT SEEKS TO DOMINATE.

: Keeping up with the new verve in ties with Beijing, India will have dialogue with China on the Indo-Pacific, persons familiar with the planning said; a similar exchange is also on the cards with Russia.

“We will have maritime dialogues with China and Russia in the coming months. Our effort is to work out in some more detail and to see how we can get coherence in the Indo Pacific community about the Indo-Pacific as a concept,” said a source.

India is also part of a quadrilateral that consist of the USA, Japan and Australia, which is widely seen as a forum to counter the growing assertiveness of China in the Indo-Pacific. But the source maintained that India has never been ‘publicly critical of the Chinese posture,’ but has “essentially said is we would like a rules-based order in the Indian Ocean because it is important for navigation connectivity.”

At the Shangri La dialogue in Singapore last month, PM Narendra Modi had assured that the ‘Quad’ will not be the sole custodian of the Indo-Pacific.

“India does not see the IndoPacific region as a strategy or as a club of limited members, nor as a grouping that seeks to dominate. And by no means do we consider it as directed against any country,” Modi had said.

“It is normal to have partnerships on the basis of shared values and interests. India, too, has many in the region and beyond. We will work with them, individually or in formats of three or more, for a stable and peaceful region. But our friendships are not alliances of containment,” Modi had said.

Explaining this position further, a source said the general agreement was that “we should work with all countries and try and explain that the concept of the Indo-Pacific is not directed against any country.”

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has issued licence to Bank of China to open its first branch in India.