India, US oppose China bid on South China Sea code |
The US has endorsed India as the net provider of security in the Indian Ocean region, where China has been trying to spread its tentacles over the past few years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and American President Donald Trump also sent out a message to China, underscoring in a joint statement that a close partnership between their two nations was “central to a free, open, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region”. Trump and Modi discussed ways to step up cooperation between India and the US as well as with Japan and Australia to counter China`s expansionist aspiration in Indo-Pacific region. The leaders of India and the United States took note of the efforts being made to work out a meaningful Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, which has been at the centre of an escalating conflict between China and its maritime neighbours in SouthEast Asia. They “solemnly urged” that the Code of Conduct should “not prejudice the legitimate rights and interests of all nations according to international law”. New Delhi and Washington D.C. are concerned over China`s recent move to tweak the proposed South China Sea Code of Conduct, which it has been negotiating with the ASEAN.
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