India on Saturday joined Japan, Australia and the US to denounce China’s “destabilising and unilateral actions” to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific region and its move to militarise the disputed features in the East and the South China seas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Joe Biden of the US, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia met for the Quad Summit on the sideline of the G7 conclave in Hiroshima and agreed to launch a partnership for Undersea Cable Connectivity and Resilience in the Indo-Pacific region to bring together public and private sector actors to address gaps in the critical communication infrastructure.
The four nations will work on a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between the export credit agencies of the governments to strengthen collaboration for the promotion of trade, financing of trade-enabling projects, economic development, and knowledge-sharing with respect to the export of goods and services. The MOC underscores the importance of economic development of the Indo-Pacific region and of increasing business opportunities, they said.
“We remain fully resolved to uphold peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain. We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion.
We emphasise the importance of adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the maintenance of freedom of navigation... including those in the East and South China Seas,” the leaders stated in a joint statement, tacitly hitting out at China.
(Published 20 May 2023, 19:37 IST)
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