EAM Jaishankar discusses Indo-Pacific developments with Singapore's FM Vivian Balakrishnan

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday, September 26, met Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in New York, US. Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said that he had a “comfortable conversation with an old friend”. He added that they both discussed Indo-Pacific developments and shared thoughts on overcoming the COVID-19 challenge. 

According to ANI, previously, Jaishankar had also discussed the Indo-Pacific development with Balakrishnan on the sidelines of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly. In recent days, he has been meeting leaders from different nations and has discussed the developments in the Indo-Pacific region. Previously, he had held several bilateral meetings with Foreign Ministers from Iran, Australia, Egypt and Indonesia. He also met his counterparts from France, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, and discussed issues related to the Indo-Pacific. 

Jaishankar even participated in the foreign minister meeting of G4 countries, which also saw the participation of Brazil's Carlos Alberto Franco Ranca and Germany's Heiko Maas. Following the meeting, the ministers reaffirmed in a joint statement that it is indispensable to reform the Security Council through an expansion of both categories, permanent and non-permanent seats, to enable the Security Council to better deal with the ever-complex and evolving challenges to the maintenance of international peace and security, and thereby to carry out its duties more effectively.

QUAD Summit 

Meanwhile, these meetings come in view of the recently concluded first in-person QUAD Leaders’ Summit. During the meeting, the head of the state from India, Australia, the United States and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to promote a free open, rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) Summit was initiated in 2007 by former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, with the goal of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.

In a statement, the QUAD leaders said, “Together, we recommit to promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.”

It is worth mentioning that the Indo-Pacific region is basically an area comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea. China’s territorial claims in the region and its efforts to advance into the Indian Ocean are seen to have challenged the established rules-based system. 

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: Twitter