By IANS,
New Delhi : India is going ahead with a new trilateral dialogue with the United States and Japan. The talks, at the level of senior officials, will be held in Tokyo in early October.
Some recent media reports had suggested that India was “developing cold feet” on the dialogue as it might upset Beijing, which might see it as an antagonistic move.
Official sources said issues like maritime security, humanitarian assistance, regional economic partnership and issues of mutual security and economic interests would figure in the talks.
The new trilateral talks were announced by former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao in Tokyo. The first “trialogue” was supposed to coincide with the new ministerial-level economic dialogue – also between Japan and India – slated for early October.
Both Japan and the US had been pressing India on the trilateral meeting but New Delhi needed to examine the issue in its totality before committing itself. They say they see India as a “strong and enduring Asia-Pacific partner” and welcome its growing engagement in the region.
Though Beijing has not officiallly commented on this development, Indian officials say the three-way talks are “not aimed at any country”, implying that China need not have any worries about any strategic ganging up against it.
India has ramped up its ties with Japan, that now includes a security dialogue. It recently exchanged notes with Japan on the possibilities of formulating joint approaches to Africa, where China has made rapid inroads across the length and breadth of the continent.
The US sees the trilateral dialogue as part of its diplomatic pitch to raise India’s profile in the East Asia region, which China is prone to see as its strategic turf.
During US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to India in July, an increased role for India in the changing geopolitical calculus was an important subject of bilateral discussions.
In a speech in Chennai, Clinton had pressed India to take a leadership role in the world, specially in East Asia. Asking New Delhi “think and act East,” Clinton underlined that India could build a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific in forums like the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum.