RIC: China and Russia are Unified over Security Issues, India is Seeking China's Support
2016-04-21, CRI
by Olga Sorokina
Shortly before the trilateral gathering involving diplomats from China, India and Russia on Monday, Lavrov pointed that the ministers and delegates were planning to discuss a wide range of issues, including UN reforms and counter-terrorism strategies. The meeting marked the 14th summit within the so-called RIC format since 2003.
"We will discuss how to interact in the UN and how to promote different initiatives. For sure, we cannot avoid the subject of the UN reforms, including the reform of the UN Security Council," said Lavrov.
Lavrov added that successful cooperation between the countries makes the world safer.
According to Russian Foreign minister, China and Russia has worked out a unified position on security issues. "We have consistently advocated these kind of /mutual/ decisions... we don't want to force any projects which don't receive a wide support and carry a risk to split the UN," emphasized Segey Lavrov.
However, the serving Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj raised the issue of China blocking India's bid at the UN to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar.
During the RIC meeting on Monday she urged Russia, India and China to carry out the commitment to fight terrorism together.
"If we want to fulfill our commitment to fight terrorism, then they must rethink the position they have taken in the UNSC 1267 Committee", emphasized Swaraj. (The United Nations Security Council resolution 1267, adopted in October 1999, designates individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden or the Taliban wherever located as terrorists.)
"We need to give up the tendency to differentiate 'my terrorists' and 'your terrorists', the Indian diplomat said. At the RIC meeting I put forward these views quite frankly before my two counterparts from Russia and China," she added.
Previously India has said it is disappointed that a "technical hold" has been put by China on Indian application to include Pathankot terror attack initiator Masood Azhar in the UN sanctions list. China responded by saying India should consult with Pakistan.
"I think India needs to separate the issue of the listing of the terrorist from the issue of condemning Pakistan," Defence Expert Samir Saran commented the situation to The New India Express on Monday. Samir Saran is a Senior Fellow and Vice President at the Observer Research Foundation.
India should have a “heart-to- heart” dialogue with China to win its support at the United Nations to ban Masood Azhar, former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid has said.
“You cannot expect China to deliver unless we talk to them. This is not carrying a shopping list,” Khurshid previously told Press Trust of India (PTI) during
China-India Corporate Dialogue held April 11 in Changcha.
“If we have to make friends and we cannot be selfish in your demeanour and we have to be accommodative and willing,” he added. “I am sure China will respond and support. You need to have heart-to-heart conversation,” concluded Khurshid.
To recall, both China and Russia are among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. India has managed to secure greater support from Beijing and Moscow for its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC).
Moving on a different subject, in reply to a question from Press Trust of India (PTI) on Chinese-Indian relations, Wang Yi responded that the difficult border issues would also ultimately be resolved.
"At the moment, the boundary negotiation is in the process of building up small positive developments. It is like climbing a mountain. The going is tough and that is only because we are on the way up. This is all the more reason that we should do more to strengthen China-India cooperation, so that we can enable and facilitate the settlement of the boundary question."
RIC will continue to carry out strategic coordination and cooperation to maintain international peace and security, continued Wang Yi. "We will start strategic cooperation on the development of Russia's Far Eastern region," working together in the fields of oil and gas and nuclear, and on high-speed rail.
The strategic partnership between Russia, India and China has a stabilising effect on the Eurasia area, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on Monday, according to TASS.
The talks will continue as 26 members of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and 12 observers will meet in Beijing on April 27-28 to discuss the cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. China’s MFA expressed a desire to see Sergey Lavrov as a head of a Russian delegation in Beijing.
Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi plan to address the question of the UN sanctions list in Beijing on April 21.