India: Open to Japan proposal on 4-nation talks

New Delhi: In a move that could act as a counter to Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region and offer alternatives to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, India on Friday said it was open to a Japanese proposal for a quadrilateral strategic dialogue that will include the two countries, including US and Australia.

Of the four countries, Japan and Australia have declared allies of the US. India said it is “open to working with like-minded countries on issues that advance our interests and promote our viewpoint” and added that it was “not rigid in this regard”. New Delhi said it was already a part of various trilateral initiatives.

According to a Reut-ers report from Tokyo on Thursday, Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono said that Tokyo proposed a strategic dialogue amo-ng leaders of the US, India, and Australia. “We are in an era when Japan has to exert itself diplomatically by drawing a big strategic picture,” Mr Kono was quoted as saying. “To maintain free and open ocean, the economy and security will surely be on the table,” he had said, adding that the aim was to also promote high-quality infrastructure investment across Asia to Africa.

The MEA said, “India is open to working with like-minded countries on issues that advance our interests and promote our viewpoint. We are not rigid in this regard.  Because of our broad acceptability as a country, there are a number of such initiatives which is trilateral in nature.  For example, we did the trilateral meeting with Russia and China on the topic of Asia Pacific last year.  We also do an India-Sri Lanka-Maldives trilateral on security matters.  We have been doing India-US-Japan (dialogue) for many years and recently India-Japan-Australia.  We also have India-Afghanistan-Iran and we are looking to hold the India-US-Afghanistan meeting.  As far as we are concerned, we have an open mind to cooperate with countries with convergence but obviously on an agenda which is relevant to us.”