China, Japan on Doval, Jaishankar itinerary

Top officials of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government are set to visit Beijing and Tokyo soon, ostensibly in a bid to strike a balance in India’s ties with Japan and China.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is likely to travel to Tokyo next week to build on the recent visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India. Modi’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will travel to Beijing around the same time – ostensibly to placate China, which has been upset over reference to South China Sea in India-Japan joint statement issued after Abe’s meeting with Modi in New Delhi. Doval, who is also India’s Special Representative for boundary negotiation and strategic consultation with China, will call on Chinese Premier Li Keqiang apart from meeting his counterpart and Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi.

Malabar exercise
His visit to Beijing comes at a time when China is understood to be upset over inclusion of Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force as a regular participant in Malabar Exercise, which hitherto remained a war drill by the navies of India and US. Beijing has also conveyed to New Delhi its concern over India’s stand over South China Sea that appeared to be in sync with positions of US and Japan on the issue.

Modi and Abe on December 12 last urged all states to avoid unilateral actions that could lead to tensions in South China Sea – apparently a call to Beijing to refrain from building new islands and air-strips in the disputed waters as well as from efforts to curb freedom of navigation and over-flight.

Beijing, however, conveyed to India that it always respected the freedom of navigation and over-flight for all states in the South China Sea in accordance with international laws and would continue to do so.

It also defended its land reclamation and other construction activities on disputed islands claiming that it was well within its sovereign rights. 

South China Sea has been at the centre of an escalating conflict between China and its maritime neighbours – Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines.
DH News Service