Japan and USA courting India to corner China, says Chinese daily
2 Sep 2016 10:38 PM GMT
Taking note of the just inked Indo-US logistics agreement, an editorial in the Global Times titled ‘Geopolitical games shouldn’t divert China’ said some American media outlets were erroneously depicting the deal as signals of India leaning towards the US alliance system.
The editorial said Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was planning to prioritise economic cooperation with Russia, despite the lack of progress in their long-standing territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands chain, which stretches from the Japanese island of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula.
“This can be seen as a significant change in Japan’s policy toward Russia. Abe is also reportedly going to attend the Eastern Economic Forum scheduled to be held in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin,” it said.
“The leaders of the two states are expected to work on eight economic cooperation plans,” it said, adding that Japan’s moves can easily be viewed as imposing geopolitical pressure on China through improving ties with Russia.
“To China’s south, US President Barack Obama will head to Laos for the East Asia Summit, after attending the G20 summit to be held in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou over the weekend. He will be the first incumbent US president to visit Laos, and this has been interpreted as his last efforts to address his pivot to the Asia-Pacific strategy before he leaves office,” it said.
“China seems to be positioned in the centre of the geopolitical manoeuvres by the US and Japan. But Beijing should not let its attention be led by the two. Geopolitics in the 21st century is not like the traditional game where every piece aims to encircle the others,” it said.
“China has just become a real major power. China needs to develop modern national defence, and at the same time keep long-term economic vitality and expand its vision,” it said.
The Chinese military should become so strong that we can withstand any external military pressure, the state-run paper, known for its strong nationalist views, said.
The Chinese economy should retain its momentum of long-term prosperity that will surpass the US, it said. “This is the primary task for China, and we should not let our attention be diverted by the clamorous geopolitical rivalry in the Asia-Pacific,” it added.
Sino-India cross-border cooperation has made ‘great advance’: China
China on Thursday said its cross-border cooperation with India made “great advance” and the militaries of the two sides “promptly dealt” with border related issues in the backdrop of reports of transgressions by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Briefing the media on the just concluded annual meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination for the border management held in New Delhi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere. The mechanism included officials of the Foreign Ministries and militaries of both the countries.
Without directly referring to the recurring transgressions by the PLA into the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Hua said the two sides had a policy review of the situation in the border region in the past year stressing that “our close communication ensured our frequent exchanges and cooperation”. “The two sides have been able to promptly deal with border-related issues and our cross-border cooperation has made great advance,” she said.
“The two sides stressed that to maintain peace and tranquility of the border area is one of our greatest common interests and cooperation needs,” she said.
The two sides will continue to deal with border-related affairs through cooperation, adopt measures to enhance mutual trust and consolidate the current sound situation so as to create a helpful environment for negations to resolve the boundary dispute, she said.
Asked about the expected meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit to held in Hangzhou city from September 4-5, she said, “we look forward to PM Modi’s attendance at the G20 summit”.
“Of course we would like to have high-level exchanges by taking advantage of this summit. We are still working on the relevant arrangements,” she said.
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