New Delhi
\nJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged India\u2019s Narendra Modi on Saturday to take a tougher line on Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, but a joint statement after talks in Delhi fell short of condemning Moscow\u2019s actions.
\nUnlike fellow members of the Quad alliance \u2014 Japan, Australia and the US \u2014 India has abstained in United Nations votes deploring Russia\u2019s actions, calling only for a halt to the violence while still buying Russian oil.
\nKishida told a joint news conference that he and Modi held an \u201cin-depth discussion\u201d and that \u201cRussia\u2019s invasion … shakes the very foundations of the international order and must be dealt with firmly.\u201d
\nBut Modi made no direct mention of Ukraine and their joint written statement afterward called only \u201cfor an immediate cessation of violence and noted that there was no other choice but the path of dialogue and diplomacy for resolution of the conflict\u201d.
\nWithout naming any country, they \u201cemphasised the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law without resorting to threat or use of force or any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo\u201d.
\nEarlier this month in a four-way call, the other Quad leaders \u2014 Kishida, US President Joe Biden and Australia\u2019s Scott Morrison \u2014 also failed to win the Indian premier over to their position on Ukraine.
\nA joint Quad statement at the time said they \u201cdiscussed the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and assessed its broader implications\u201d \u2014 without any condemnation of Moscow.
\nA separate Indian readout pointedly underlined that the alliance must remain focused on its \u201ccore objective … in the Indo-Pacific region\u201d of promoting peace, stability and prosperity.
\nChina clash
\nModi and Morrison are also due to hold a virtual summit on Monday focused on trade, when the Australian premier may again press his Indian counterpart to fall more into the Western camp over Ukraine.
\nRussia has been India\u2019s main arms supplier since the Soviet era, but today Delhi also needs more support from the Quad and others in the region and beyond in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
\nTensions between New Delhi and Beijing have been high since a 2020 clash on their disputed Himalayan border killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.
\nBoth have since sent additional military hardware \u2014 in India\u2019s case, much of it Russian-made \u2014 and thousands of extra troops to the area.
\nInvestment
\nWith reference to China\u2019s growing assertiveness \u2014 seen as the main concern of the Quad \u2014 Kishida and Modi \u201creaffirmed their common vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, free from coercion\u201d.
\nThe statement after the first visit to India by a Japanese prime minister since 2017 also said that Japan would realise 5 trillion yen in public and private investment in India in the next five years.
\nBoth leaders also expressed their concern \u201cabout the situation in Myanmar and called for an end to violence, the release of all those detained and a return to the path of democracy,\u201d the statement said.
\nThey also committed to further cooperation on tackling climate change and condemned North Korea\u2019s \u201cdestabilising ballistic missile launches\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged India\u2019s Narendra Modi on Saturday to take a tougher line on Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, but a joint statement after talks in Delhi fell short of condemning Moscow\u2019s actions. Unlike fellow members of the Quad alliance \u2014 Japan, Australia and the US \u2014 India has abstained in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-250474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n