by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Tokyo : The trade agreement Washington and Tokyo plan to negotiate will be a model for the Indo-Pacific region, US Vice President Mike Pence said at the start of his Asia tour on Tuesday.
Pence, who referred to trade negotiations to be held between the US and Japan in January, met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the first stop of his Asia and Oceania tour, Efe news reported.
“The alliance between the US and Japan is historic. It is the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” said Pence.
In a joint media briefing, the two leaders highlighted the strength of their bilateral trade and defence ties although they also expressed differences in addressing economic cooperation.
“We are grateful for Japan’s renewed investment,” said the US leader.
He thanked Abe for his commitment towards Japanese investments in the US which were a major economic contribution and source of job creation.
However, Pence pointed out that bilateral trade balance had been uneven for too long as Japan applied barriers on US goods and services imports.
But Japan, Pence said, “is an indispensible trading partner for the US” and the countries have a great opportunity ahead in the economic dialogue formally started in September.
“The time-honoured bond between the US and Japan is a model for nations across the Indo-Pacific region and the world,” said Pence, adding that US leadership in the region was based on collaboration and not control.
Abe said both nations agreed to promote free and open trade in the Indo-Pacific region based on fair rules as well as expanding mutually beneficial bilateral trade and investment.
However, Abe used the same arguments to criticize the tariff measures and other protectionist policies applied by the administration of Donald Trump and expressed concern over the US’ withdrawal from several multinational trade initiatives.
Both Abe and Pence will participate this week in the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit (Asean) in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Papua New Guinea to promote regional economic integration.
This marked Pence’s third visit to Japan since assuming office. The two governments signed a series of agreements to promote mutual investments in infrastructure, telecommunications and nuclear power for civilian use.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Aroonim Bhuyan,
New Delhi : With India’s northeastern region being a pivot area of New Delhi’s Act East Policy, its importance again came into focus during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s annual bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on October on 28-29.
With Modi describing Japan as the cornerstone of India’s Act East Policy and the two countries agreeing to work together in more concrete terms for the development of the Indo-Pacific region, the Northeast has emerged as a key link in this chain.
The Indo-Pacific region stretches from the east coast of Japan to the east coast of Africa and both India and Japan agree that the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc has to play a central role for the peace and prosperity of the region.
According to an India-Japan Vision Statement issued following the Tokyo summit, both Modi and Abe “reiterated their unwavering commitment to working together towards a free and open Indo-Pacific.
“The two leaders also affirmed that Asean unity and centrality are at the heart of the Indo-Pacific concept, which is inclusive and open to all,” it stated.
Under the Act East Policy, the Northeast, which shares historical and traditional bonds with the Asean region, is seen as the springboard for India’s increasing engagements with Southeast Asia and for this New Delhi has roped in Tokyo in a big way.
Japan’s role in development work in the Northeast is also expected to boost connectivity between the member-states of the Bimstec sub-regional grouping.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec), which came into existence in 1997, comprises seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Membership in the bloc allows India to engage more with the extended neighbourhood in Southeast Asia under New Delhi’s Neighbourhood First Policy via northeastern India.
This will also help keep in check China’s growing influence in the region through Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pet Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project.
India has not joined the BRI on the grounds that it has put participating nations in debt traps and also does not respect the territorial integrity of other countries.
Last year, India and Japan established the Act East Forum to serve as a driving force for cooperation between the two countries in the Northeast and the second meeting of the Forum was held on October 8 in which key infrastructure projects, including road development, in the region were identified.
“The two Prime Ministers welcomed the progress made for the development of India’s northeastern region through the India-Japan Act East Forum by identifying and implementing projects for enhancing connectivity, sustainable forest and ecological management, disaster risk reduction and people-to-people exchanges,” the Vision Statement said.
At an interaction organised by the New Delhi-based think tank Brookings India ahead of Modi’s visit to Japan, Japanese Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu referred to a statement by Modi that Japan is the only country with which India will partner on the connectivity agenda.
Hiramatsu said that India and Japan can not only contribute to some infrastructure project in the Pacific, his country is also keen to support development work in the northeastern part of India.
He said that the Act East Forum was set up to discuss how Japan and India can collaborate together in many areas, including infrastructure, people-to-people exchange and disaster management in the Northeast.
He also mentioned some of the key infrastructure projects in the region identified during the second meeting of the Act East Forum.
These include National Highway 40 between and Shillong and Dawki, National Highway 51 between Tura and Dalu — both in Meghalaya — and National Highway 54 between Aizawl and Tuipang in Mizoram.
The possibility of a corridor linking Gelephu, the border area between Assam and Bhutan, and Dalu, the border town between Bangladesh and Meghalaya, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is also being explored.
This will include the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge project, which will be the longest river bridge in India when completed, as the third phase of the Northeast Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project.
Development of main district roads (MDRs) and other district roads (ODRs), which will have positive socio-economic effect, is also being considered.
“We are very happy to have connectivity projects together in the Northeast to eventually connect with neighbouring countries like Myanmar or Bangladesh,” Hiramatsu said at the interaction.
Disaster management is another area of cooperation India and Japan are discussing and Hiramatsu said that his country has a lot of experience to share with the Northeast, a region that is prone to floods and earthquakes.
The October 8 Act East Forum meeting decided to expedite Japan’s contribution to resilient infrastructures in the Northeast and through capacity development project on highways in the mountainous regions.
Both sides are also discussing knowledge sharing on the issue through a Japan-India workshop on disaster risk reduction.
Following the October 29 summit in Tokyo, India and Japan also exchanged notes on seven yen loan agreements for key infrastructure projects in India, including two in the Northeast — renovation and modernisation of the Umiam-Umtru Stage-III hydroelectric power station in Meghalaya, and sustainable catchment forest management in Tripura.
Biodiversity conservation and forest management projects in Nagaland and Sikkim are also under consideration.
People-to-people ties also form a key aspect in Japan’s engagement with northeastern India and for this it has been decided to promote Japanese language education in the Northeast.
Gauhati University and Cotton University in Assam, English and Foreign Languages University in Meghalaya, and the National Institute of Technology in Nagaland have expressed interest in this.
(Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Arul Louis,
New York : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump pledged to strengthen security and economic cooperation and build on the Indo-Pacific partnership, according to the White House.
While discussing on telephone on Thursday bilateral cooperation, they looked forward to the “2+2 Meeting” of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in April, a White House statement said.
“The leaders pledged to continue working together to enhance security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” the statement said. “Affirming President Trump’s South Asia strategy, they reiterated their commitment to supporting Afghanistan’s security and stability.”
In their review of the South Asia and Indo-Pacific regions, the statement said: “Both leaders expressed concern about the political crisis in Maldives and the importance of respect for democratic institutions and rule of law.”
On Afghanistan, which was the keystone of the South Asia Strategy announced in August 2017, they reiterated their commitment to back efforts to support the violence-hit nation’s security and stability.
Closer to India, they discussed ways to address the plight of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and the situation in that country, the statement said.
On North Korea, an issue at the top of US foreign policy priorities, the two leaders discussed further steps to denuclearise Pyongyang.
While China is backing Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen amid a political crisis, New Delhi and Washington share a common perspective and want a return to democracy and an end to the state of Emergency declared by Yameen on Monday.
After the Supreme Court overturned the terrorism conviction of former President Mohamed Nasheed as well as the convictions of eight other politicians on several charges, Yameen clamped the Emergency.
Two of the five Supreme Court judges were arrested by government forces and the other three overturned their unanimous ruling ordering the release of the nine politicians.
As part of his South Asia strategy, Trump wanted India to provide more aid to Afghanistan.
He also put Islamabad on notice for harbouring terrorists, and followed it up last month by withholding security assistance to Pakistan estimated at over $1 billion.
In the Indo-Pacific region, Trump is promoting cooperation between the four democracies – India, the US, Japan and Australia – to be a countervailing force to China.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World, News, Politics, World
Rex Tillerson
By Aroonim Bhuyan,
New Delhi : Prior to his maiden visit to India in his official capacity, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has made clear Washington’s position on key geopolitical and strategic matters pertaining to the Indo-Pacific and South Asian regions, saying the “Trump administration is determined to dramatically deepen ways for the United States and India” to further their strategic partnership that is heading for “strategic convergence” and put China and Pakistan on notice that it intended to “do what is needed” to support India.
“In this period of uncertainty and somewhat angst, India needs a reliable partner on the world stage. I want to make clear: with our shared values and vision for global stability, peace, and prosperity, the United States is that partner,” Tillerson said categorically while making a major policy statement at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC on Wednesday.
While asserting that China’s “provocative actions” went against the international law and norms that the US and India stood for, Tillerson made it clear that Washington expected Pakistan to take “decisive action” against terrorist groups operating within its territory.
“China, while rising alongside India, has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international, rules-based order even as countries like India operate within a framework that protects other nations’ sovereignty,” the Secretary of State, who will be visiting New Delhi next week, said while delivering an address on ‘Defining Our Relationship with India for the Next Century’.
The statement assumes significance in the wake of the 73-day standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in the Doklam region of Bhutan. New Delhi and Beijing eventually withdrew their troops from the region on August 28 just days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China for the annual BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit.
In his remarks, Tillerson also referred to China’s aggressive stance in the South China Sea region and said the US and India would work together for the security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region.
“China’s provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for,” he said.
“The United States seeks constructive relations with China, but we will not shrink from China’s challenges to the rules-based order and where China subverts the sovereignty of neighbouring countries and disadvantages the US and our friends.”
Tillerson said that India and the US “should be in the business of equipping other countries to defend their sovereignty, build greater connectivity, and have a louder voice in a regional architecture that promotes their interests and develops their economies”.
“This is a natural complement to India’s Act East policy,” he stated.
In this context, he also said that the US, India and Japan were “already capturing the benefits of our important trilateral engagement” and said “India and the United States must foster greater prosperity and security with the aim of a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Indo-Pacific – including the entire Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific, and the nations that surround them – will be the most consequential part of the globe in the 21st century.”
These words will come as music to New Delhi’s ears ahead of Modi’s visit to the Philippines next month for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and East Asia Summits.
Tillerson’s remarks also came amid Chinese President Xi Jinping’s assertion at this week’s National Congress of the Communist Party of China that Beijing would never give up its “legitimate rights and interests”.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s new South Asia Strategy that sees Pakistan as an important partner, Tillerson made no bones about the fact that Washington expected Islamabad to take strong action against terror.
“We expect Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorist groups based within their own borders that threaten their own people and the broader region,” he said.
“In doing so, Pakistan furthers stability and peace for itself and its neighbours, and improves its own international standing.”
Tillerson also referred to the US’ designation of the Hizbul Mujahideen as a foreign terrorist organisation and said this was “because the United States and India stand shoulder-to-shoulder against terrorism”.
“States that use terror as an instrument of policy will only see their international reputation and standing diminish,” he said, leaving to no one’s imagination which country he was referring to.
(Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in)
—IANS
