{"id":47671,"date":"2014-09-22T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=47671"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:30:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:30:34","slug":"indian-pm-backs-russia-china-ahead-of-us-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/09\/indian-pm-backs-russia-china-ahead-of-us-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian PM Backs Russia, China Ahead of US Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

22 Sep 2014 – <\/em>Days ahead of his US visit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed BRICS<\/a> members Russia and China, refusing to criticise Moscow for its annexation of Crimea and reiterating trust in China\u2019s handling of territorial disputes in the east and south China seas.<\/p>\n

In an interview to CNN<\/em><\/a>, aired on Sunday, Modi, when asked whether New Delhi is as worried about China\u2019s \u201cbehavior in the east and south China seas<\/a>\u201d like Vietnam and Philippines, said he has faith in Beijing\u2019s understanding and its commitment to global laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is also a country with an ancient cultural heritage. Look at how it has focused on economic development. It\u2019s hardly the sign of a country that wants to be isolated. It wants to stay connected. That is why we should have trust in China\u2019s understanding and have faith that it would accept global laws and will play its role in cooperating and moving forward,\u201d he told the American broadcaster.<\/p>\n

According to official Chinese data, the South China Sea covers 3.55 million square km. China, the Philippines, Vietnam and other nations lay contesting claims to these waters. China exercises jurisdiction over about 2 million square km of the maritime territory. The push comes even as the US seeks to assert its own influence in the region in the form of a much-hyped Asia Pivot.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Modi had held intensive talks with the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a> earlier last week, where leaders of the world\u2019s two most populous nations used the summit to sign 12 agreements to boost their commercial and trade ties. The Export Import Bank of China signed an agreement with the State Bank of India to extend a $1.8 billion line of credit for projects. A similar agreement was signed with India\u2019s ICICI Bank for $1 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you see the details of the last five or ten centuries, you will see that India and China have grown at similar paces. Their contributions to global GDP have risen in parallel, and fallen in parallel. Today\u2019s era once again belongs to Asia. India and China are both growing rapidly, together,\u201d Modi told\u00a0CNN\u2019<\/em>s Fareed Zakaria<\/a>\u00a0in a pre-recorded interview.<\/p>\n

In continuing with New Delhi\u2019 earlier reiteration of support to Moscow<\/a> over the annexation of Crimea<\/a>, Modi said dialogue has to replace the current blame-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a saying in India that the person who should throw a stone first is the person who has not committed any sins. In the world right now, a lot of people want to give advice. But look within them, and they too have sinned in some way. Ultimately, India\u2019s view point is that efforts need to be made to sit together and talk, and to resolve problems in an ongoing process,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n

China, which has own restive regions such as Tibet, has taken a cautious response to the issue of Crimea while New Delhi has gone a step further to say Moscow has \u201clegitimate\u201d interests in Ukraine <\/a>and they should be discussed to find a satisfactory solution to the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are watching what is happening in Ukraine with concern\u2026 The broader issues of reconciling various interests involved and there are, after all, legitimate Russian and other interests involved and we hope those are discussed, negotiated and there is a satisfactory resolution to them,\u201d former Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon said in March this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The West describes the popular vote in Crimea<\/a>, in which nearly 97 per cent voted in favor of rejoining Russia, as illegitimate, while Moscow says it is in line with the UN Charter and international laws.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/em> quoted US\u00a0Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal last week as saying<\/a> India \u201cdoes itself a discredit\u201d by blocking the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) reached in Bali last year, and that Washington will press Modi on the issue. Citing concerns over food security, India had decided not to sign the trade protocol agreed to by WTO members<\/a>.
\nThe decision was taken after a Cabinet meet headed by the Indian Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cA permanent solution on food security is a must for us and we cannot wait endlessly in a state of uncertainty while the WTO engages in an academic debate on the subject of food security which is what some developed countries seem to be suggesting before they are ready to engage on this important issue,\u201d explained Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Modi\u2019s high-profile visit to the US begins September 26.<\/p>\n

TBP<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thebricspost.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

22 Sep 2014 – Days ahead of his US visit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed BRICS members Russia and China, refusing to criticise Moscow for its annexation of Crimea and reiterating trust in China\u2019s handling of territorial disputes in the east and south China seas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}