The prime minister was speaking at an event to mark golden jubilee of the Aditya Birla Group's presence in Thailand.
The two met informally in a holding room before attending a gala dinner in the Lao capital marking the beginning of the yearly ASEAN summit.
India is increasingly a willing participant in the evolving US' Indo-Pacific strategy. While these developments are related to the perception of a growing Chinese security challenge, their implications for India's much-vaunted strategic autonomy should be a matter of deeper and closer reflection, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
India had invited United States President Joe Biden to grace the occasion but he expressed inability to travel to New Delhi in January.
Asked for China's comments on India not joining the RCEP deal over concern of cheap Chinese products potentially harming its domestic industry, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media in Beijing on Tuesday that China welcomes India joining the deal.
Obama said he refused to accept terrorism as the 'new normal' even after the recent attacks in Paris and the subsequent hostage situation at a hotel in Mali.
'India needs to be cautious that its differences with Pakistan do not obstruct SCO's functioning,' says Sana Hashmi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had a meeting with Nobel laureate and Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in his first interaction with the pro-democracy icon.
The trigger that led Japan and the Philippines to ink the deal was because of the deteriorating security situation in the South China Sea. China's coast guard increased the frequency and intensity of incursions into Philippine waters, provoking the Philippines to take countermeasures to deter China, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
Modi will have a number of high-profile multilateral and bilateral meetings with global leaders including United States Vice President Mike Pence and Singapore premier Lee Hsein Loong.
It was clear in Brunei at the 8th East Asia Summit that China doesn't want the South China Sea issue to even dominate the discussion, reports Sheela Bhatt, who is part of the prime minister's media contingent to the summit
'There's no pro-China tilt in BRICS.' 'All these countries want to be close to China, but they are all good friends of India also.'
India on Friday pressed Indonesia to speedily ratification an extradition treaty, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying the two countries would frame a comprehensive action plan for mutually beneficial security cooperation.
'Clearly, the warming of ties can be a 'win-win' for India and China,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Modi government has to embrace the history of Tamil conquests in South East Asia and stop obsessing about Babar/Humayun, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.
The leaders of the Quad comprising India, the United States, Australia and Japan are set to demonstrate that the grouping is a 'force for global good' and has a unifying commitment to a rules-based international order amid China's increasingly intimidatory behaviour.
The 'Missing link in India's Act East Policy', as India's former foreign secretary Shyam Saran calls it, needs to be filled sooner rather than later, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
The US has been, historically, a sleeping partner in India-China relations. Today, any attempt by the Modi government to make a bilateral move to improve relations with Beijing could upset Biden's apple cart, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
India-Maldives ties came under strain under Yameen who was perceived to be close to China.
"In India's development cooperation, we will be guided by our partners' development priorities. Our assistance does not create indebtedness and is without conditionalities," he said at the 44th Annual Meeting of the G-77 Foreign Ministers on Thursday, in a veiled reference to China's loans which has led to debt-traps in some countries.
'Any future course of action towards active participation in the alliance when formed would need a lot of deliberation, long term vision and should be in our best national interests,' notes Commodore Vengalil Venugopal (retd).
Indian policymakers are almost alone, alongside the United States, in seeking a hard and multi-sectoral global decoupling from China in the expectation that it will boost their economies, observes Mihir S Sharma.
Rediff.com's Vipin Vijayan, who is travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, says India will make efforts to elevate relations with Thailand to a strategic partnership.
Trump lauds Modi, saying he has been working successfully to bring the vast country and its people together.
A senior US official said that the plan of establishing OBOR alternative was still 'nascent'.
As India strives to make its Act East Policy a comprehensive politico-diplomatic and economic success, Brunei gains more salience, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
On Wednesday, the ever so tech savvy Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined Instagram. His first ever post was from Myanmar where he is for the ASEAN summit. As the Instagram community continues to grow internationally, political leaders across the globe have increasingly adopted Instagram as a way to share and connect with the people they represent. If you're curious about what life is like as the leader of a far away country, explore these Instagram accounts:
The resolution also pushes back against People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that Arunachal Pradesh is PRC territory, which is a part of the PRC's increasingly aggressive and expansionist policies.
This is more than 25 per cent higher as compared to the same period of the previous year when the prime minister had 78 domestic engagements.
Expressing concern over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India and Australia have underlined the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and stressed that the contemporary global order has been built on UN Charter, international law and respect for States' sovereignty and territorial integrity.
As US President Joe Biden launched a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations, including India, to enhance trade, economic and investment opportunities, China, which sees the pact as a threat to its dominance in the region, went on the offensive against it, promising more opening up, while the official media here termed it as "economic Nato".
The prime minister's meetings with Abe and Turnbull came a day after he held "very expansive" talks with US President Donald Trump on intensifying overall security and defence cooperation, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region where China is strengthening its military build up.
'The impasse on the India-China border in the Sikkim sector persists, but the Hamburg meeting between the two leaders will certainly have its salutary effects on the relationship between the two countries,' says China scholar Rup Narayan Das.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Suva in Fiji in Fiji on Tuesday night for a day-long visit, the first by an Indian premier to the country in 33 years, during which he will hold bilateral talks with his counterpart Frank Bainimarama.
The resolution condemns additional Chinese provocations, including China's use of military force to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities and features in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and expansion of Beijing's territorial claims in Bhutan.
Inaugurating the two-day 'Global Investors Summit' hosted by Assam, Modi said the National Democratic Alliance government has speeded up the functioning of official machinery and "we want all programmes to be completed before target".
Last month, President Trump offered to be the "mediator" between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue when he met Prime Minister Imran Khan for the first time at the White House.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances