By Yin Han
Source:Global Times
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the Indian media lacks self-confidence and has no trust in China in response to Indian media reports that India is hosting the India-ASEAN Summit to contain China.
“It seems the Indian media has made it routine in recent days to link it with China no matter what Indian leaders or the government do… it shows that they are not so confident in themselves and have no trust in China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a daily briefing on Thursday.
Indian newspaper Daily News Analysis published an article on Thursday entitled “India’s ASEAN outreach on R-Day to curb Chinese ambitions,” saying that India’s cooperation with ASEAN assumes “greater significance against the background of an assertive and rapidly growing China.”
Heads of 10 ASEAN countries arrived in New Delhi to attend the India-ASEAN Summit on Thursday.
Hua also said that China holds an open and welcoming attitude toward having cooperation or developing bilateral ties with any nation, and “China is glad to see India and ASEAN developing cooperation.”
“India is adopting a comprehensive diplomatic policy – it not only pays attention to traditional powers, including the US and Japan, but also focuses on developing ties with its Asian neighbors, especially ASEAN countries, which have more influence in the region,” Zhao Gancheng, director of Shanghai Institute for International Studies’ South Asia Studies, told the Global Times.
Some ASEAN countries, including Singapore, prefer a balanced policy – to welcome more powers into the Southeast Asian region to contain China in an effort to allow ASEAN to play a bigger role. They welcome the olive branch given by India, Zhao said.
However, India is not as influential as China in Asia but is trying to use disputes, including the South China Sea disputes, to contain China, Zhao said.
India and ASEAN could cooperate on trade and security. But the cooperation is not at the same level as with China. The cooperation between China and ASEAN has increased in quality and speed while India has just started to explore cooperation with ASEAN, said Ge Hongliang, a research fellow at the Charhar Institute and the College of ASEAN Studies at Guangxi University for Nationalities.
Adopted from Global Times
