Indian leader takes veiled dig at Beijing’s South China Sea claims during Brunei visit
India supports a policy of “development” and no “expansionism,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the remarks during a visit to Brunei, which borders Malaysia on the South China Sea. His remarks were interpreted as an attack on China, given the strained relations between the two South Asian countries.
Modi’s trip to oil-rich Brunei was the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister. He held in-depth talks with the country’s leader, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, before heading to Singapore. The two Southeast Asian countries are central to New Delhi’s “Act East” policy, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Thursday.
At a banquet hosted by the King of Brunei, Modi spoke about the maritime dispute in the South China Sea between Beijing, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei. He said India supports “freedom of navigation and overflight under international law,” referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982.
“We agree that a code of conduct should be finalized in this region. We support the policy of development and not expansionism,” Modi said this without referring to any particular country.
Negotiations on a “code of Conduct” The South China Sea disputes between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have been ongoing for decades.
A joint statement issued after Modi’s meeting with the Sultan of Brunei noted that the two leaders reiterated their commitment to “maintain and promote maritime peace, stability, security and safety”, as well as freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law. Despite overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, Brunei has consistently adopted a non-confrontational approach to maritime conflict.
Later, in Singapore, Modi and his counterpart Lawrence Wong reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and “to promote peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.”
Earlier this year, amid tensions between China and the Philippines, New Delhi said it opposed unilateral actions aimed at changing the status quo by force in the South China Sea region.
Relations between the two South Asian countries have been strained since a clash in a disputed border region in the Ladakh Valley in June 2020 that resulted in the deaths of soldiers on both sides. New Delhi has rejected China’s claims to the Arunachal Pradesh region (which Beijing has named “Zangnan”) and expressed concern over China’s growing incursions into the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
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At the same time, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar suggested that New Delhi should “Welcome Contest” and have “more confidence” in the face of China’s growing influence in South Asia. He also said that resolving differences with the two neighbours – China and Pakistan – would be one of the key imperatives of Modi’s third term as prime minister.
Despite lingering frictions, China was India’s largest trading partner last fiscal, with bilateral trade reaching $118.4 billion.
RT
