The Quad partnership is on track to produce at least a billion vaccine doses in India by 2022, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, asserting that nothing is more urgent than working together to defeat COVID-19 so the world is much better prepared for future pandemics.
United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Rome and held discussions on a range of issues, including bilateral relation and Russia's war against Ukraine, the White House said.
'Advancing friendship with Japan. Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @kishida230 held productive talks in New Delhi. Both leaders discussed ways to boost economic and cultural linkages between the two countries,' Modi's office tweeted.
With a 'tilak' on his forehead and a 'puja thali' in his hands, Shinzo Abe's picture attending the 'Ganga aarti' alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the fabled Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi in 2015 symbolised his 'India connect' and reflected the very special bond he shared with the country.
In the 15-year dataset, the researchers noted an average of 7.8 incursions per year even though the Indian government's estimates are much higher.
With the signing of the pact, the Quad grouping of India, Japan, Australia and the US is set to gain more heft now, notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Somdev Devvarman has a heavy workload to shoulder, as India, sans top doubles player Leander Paes, take on hosts Japan in a bid to re-enter the elite Davis Cup World Group in Tokyo, from Friday
MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the forthcoming Quad summit will provide an opportunity for the Quad leaders to exchange views about developments in the Indo-Pacific and contemporary global issues of mutual interest.
It was the second time in the last three days that India asserted that the relationship with China depends on the resolution of the pending issues in eastern Ladakh.
This will serve as framework for Smart heritage city programme between the two countries
His visit to India followed a few cancelled plans since he took office in July 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic crisis, with the two leaders holding several virtual talks and eventually meeting in person on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last November.
The coming together of the Quad and the Australia-UK-US grouping would be a formidable adversary, moving toward the creation of a 'thousand ship navy' that reins in the PLA navy in the Indo-Pacific.
Chinese and Russian warplanes on Tuesday conducted joint air patrols over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the West Pacific Ocean as the leaders of Quad held their in-person summit in Tokyo, in an apparent attempt to send a message of unity between Beijing and Moscow.
'Unless India ups the ante, Beijing will continue to believe its transgressions are cost free and will feel encouraged to do more of the same.'
Newly-elected Conservative Party leader and prime minister in waiting Liz Truss is among the senior British politicians known for championing deeper India-UK strategic and economic ties, describing them as a "sweet spot" of global trade dynamics.
Leaders of India, Australia and the United States -- countries that make up the Quad with Japan -- expressed shock at the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying he played a 'formative role' in the founding of the partnership and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open strategically-important Indo-Pacific region.
India and Japan will next month sign an agreement for a dedicated rail freight corridor connecting Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, which will significantly reduce the time taken for transporting goods from one metro to another.
Speaking at the forum, Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) representative director and president Toshihiro Suzuki said, "Suzuki's future mission is to achieve carbon neutrality with small cars. "We will continue active investment in India to realise Self-reliant India (Atma-nirbhar Bharat)." Under the MoU, the company's wholly-owned arm Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd (SMG) will invest Rs 7,300 crore for the construction of a plant for BEV batteries at a land neighboring to SMG's existing plant by 2026.
'We know that our Indian partners are committed to that rules-based international order. There are any number of tenets in that order. One of them is that borders cannot be redrawn by force'
It is for the investigating agencies to probe all aspects of the assassination, including a possible Chinese hand, or if the killer was just a disgruntled element who acted on his own and wanted to earn some dark space in history like Nathuram Godse or Lee Harvey Oswald, notes Japan expert Rajaram Panda.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his counterparts from Australia and Japan on Friday attended the first in-person meeting of Quad leaders hosted by US President Joe Biden during which they plan to discuss issues like climate change, Covid-19 pandemic and challenges in the Indo Pacific, amidst China's growing military presence in the strategic region.
"Relevant countries should abandon the obsolete Cold War mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical rivalry concept and view correctly and respect people's aspiration in the region and do more things conducive to regional solidarity and cooperation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
Wang began a two-day trip to Pakistan on Tuesday primarily to attend a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as a special guest.
He said that "the state of the border will determine the state of the relationship, that's natural".
"The deal is being implemented. We witnessed attempts on the part of the US to undermine this cooperation and make India obey the American orders to follow the American vision of how this region should be developed," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
Biden welcomed Prime Minister Modi at the Summit and said "it is wonderful to see you again in person".
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in India Thursday evening in the highest-level visit between the two countries after the ties came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh standoff nearly two years ago.
US Vice President Kamala Harris would host a separate meeting with the prime ministers of three Quad countries -- India, Australia and Japan -- at the White House to discuss with them the important factors for democracies to go forward, officials said.
China criticised the forthcoming meeting of the Foreign Ministers of India, Australia, Japan and the United States in Tokyo, saying it is opposed to the formation of "exclusive clique" harming third party's interests.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday is scheduled to have as many as eight meetings, including with Vice President Kamala Harris, on the first working day of his current US trip.
Quad leaders are also planning to roll out vaccine deliverables and announce a series of measures in the field of healthcare and infrastructure sector, officials in Washington, DC said.
The Chinese coercion and aggression spans the globe, but it is most acute in the Indo-Pacific, it said.
'The MEA, hopefully, made it clear that the Indian PM can't be seen in Xi Jinping's company when China has, for all intents and purposes, annexed over 1,000 sq kms of Indian territory in eastern Ladakh, and essentially that the Wuhan spirit and the Mamallapuram spirit have turned into vinegar.'
Haley said there is a need to closely watch China as it is making a move to take over the Bagram air force base that was controlled by the United States for nearly two decades.
Admiral Philips Davidson, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, also told the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that China's recent activities along the Line of Actual Control have opened India's eyes to what cooperative effort with others might mean for their own defensive needs as he observed that New Delhi, in the very near term, will deepen its engagement with the Quad.
Tech major Lenovo on Thursday said it is significantly ramping up its local manufacturing capabilities in India across product categories like PCs, notebooks and smartphones to meet the increasing customer demand. While the company did not disclose the investment being made, Lenovo said it is expanding in India across all business lines, including PC and smart devices, smart phones, infrastructure solutions, and especially in the newly established services and solutions group. Lenovo has expanded its in-house PC manufacturing plant in Puducherry to include a third manufacturing line, while it has started local manufacturing of its tablet computers in partnership with Wingtech Technology in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
In the opinion piece after the summit, the leaders said the cooperation, known as "the Quad," was born in crisis. It became a diplomatic dialogue in 2007 and was reborn in 2017.
While the two leaders have met earlier when Biden was the Vice President of the country, this is for the first time that Biden will be meeting Modi after he became the 46th president of the US in January.
'There shall be no change in India-Japan ties,' predicts Rajaram Panda.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his maiden trip to India next week would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to discuss wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues, his spokesperson said on Friday.
