Page 6 - The Indian EYE 071924

NATION JULY 19, 2024 | The Indian Eye 6

INDO-PACIFIC COMPETITION

Now, US seeks India’s help to end Ukraine

war as NATO’s tensions set to rise with China

PM Modi, who was on an official visit to Moscow recently, met with Russian President Vladimir

Putin there and outlined their goals to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers and achieve a mutual

trade volume of over USD 100 billion by 2030

OUR BUREAU sity of Singapore said.
These efforts are aimed at “find-
Washington, DC
ing out where are their friends and
mid the ongoing conflict be- who can support their efforts,” he
tween Moscow and Kyiv, the said. “[But] it’s pretty clear that the
AUS has urged India to “uti- competition between major powers is
lize” its longstanding relationship intensifying,” he said.
with Russia and tell President Vlad- During its annual summit in
imir Putin to end his “illegal war” in Washington, NATO announced it
Ukraine. The spokesperson of the US would launch four new joint projects
State Department, Matthew Miller, in with Japan, South Korea, Australia,
a press briefing on Monday not only and New Zealand. The projects will
noted the strong Delhi-Moscow ties focus on deepening cooperation with
but also urged India to tell Putin to the four Indo-Pacific countries on
respect the UN Charter. Ukraine, artificial intelligence, disin-
“So, India has a longstanding re- formation, and cybersecurity.
lationship with Russia. I think that’s US National Security Advisor
well-known. And we have - speaking Jake Sullivan said the goal is to “har-
for the United States - encouraged ness the unique strengths” of democ-
India to utilize that relationship with racies to address shared global chal-
Russia, that longstanding relationship lenges.
and the unique position that they have, Beijing hit back at NATO, ac-
to urge President Putin to end his ille- cusing the bloc of “inciting bloc con-
gal war and to find a just peace, a last- frontation and hyping up regional
ing peace to this conflict; to tell Vlad- tensions” by engaging with countries
imir Putin to respect the UN Charter, in the Indo-Pacific region.
to respect Ukraine’s territorial in- “These are core areas that will
tegrity and sovereignty,” Miller said. shape military and other forms of
He further added, “That’s what Prime Minister Narendra Modi embraces Russian President Vladimir Putin after receiving competition moving forward so
we’ll continue to impress upon the the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called, Russia’s highest civilian honour, NATO wants to establish more co-
Government of India, who is an im- operation with like-minded democ-
portant partner of ours when it comes at St Catherine’s Hall, in Moscow on Tuesday (ANI) racies,” said Stephen Nagy, a regional
to their relationship with Russia.” security expert at the International
Miller’s remarks came in re- EAEU-India Free Trade Area, ac- macy” for resolving conflict between Christian University in Japan.
sponse to a media query on Prime cording to the Leaders’ Joint State- India and Russia but continued to Since NATO has labelled China
Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit ment released following the meeting. purchase Russian oil. as “the decisive enabler” of Russia’s
to Russia, which the Ukrainian Presi- They also decided to work on de- The US remarks came as China war against Ukraine, Nagy said the
dent termed as a devastating blow to veloping a bilateral settlement system and NATO are trying to deepen coop- alliance is trying to show Beijing that
the peace efforts. using national currencies and the con- eration with ‘like-minded’ countries in it won’t back out of the global compe-
PM Modi, who was on an official sistent introduction of digital financial the Indo-Pacific and Europe, which tition in key areas.
visit to Moscow recently, met with instruments for mutual settlements. several analysts see as part of grow- “NATO is signalling to China
Russian President Vladimir Putin In Russia, PM Modi was ceremo- ing competition between the United that they can be part of the solution,
there and outlined their goals to elim- niously presented with the Order of St States and China. or they would be part of the prob-
inate non-tariff trade barriers and Andrew the Apostle the First-Called, This comes following the NATO lem,” he said.
achieve a mutual trade volume of over Russia’s highest civilian honour, by Summit in Washington, which an- On the other hand, Japan’s For-
USD 100 billion by 2030. Russian President Vladimir Putin. nounced deeper cooperation with eign Press Secretary Maki Kobayashi
The two leaders also decided It was PM Modi’s first visit to allies in the Indo-Pacific. “[The lat- said that while Tokyo has been work-
to continue dialogue on the liberal- Russia since the war started between est development] is a standard major ing closely with NATO member states,
ization of bilateral trade, including Moscow and Kyiv in 2022. India has power competition,” Ian Chong, a po- these efforts shouldn’t be viewed as an
the possibility of establishing the always advocated “peace and diplo- litical scientist at the National Univer- attempt to establish a NATO in Asia.

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