Ahead of US official's India visit, China slams 'Asian NATO'

New Delhi, March 7

The US announced the four-day visit of its Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to India to take forward the Indo-Pacific economic framework on a day China denounced its attempts in this direction which, it said, were “bound to fail”.

Raimondo, along with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will be the second VIP to spend Holi here. At the business end, she will hold discussions not just on giving life to the Indo-Pacific economic framework announced by US President Joe Biden in the presence of PM Narendra Modi.

Apart from the four Quad members, the other participants are Brunei, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

At a first press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, the new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said the Indo-Pacific strategy’s attempt to form exclusive blocs, provoke confrontation through an “Asian NATO” is “bound to fail”.

“Asia should be the stage for win-win cooperation rather than a chessboard for a geopolitical contest. No cold war should be reignited and no Ukraine-like crisis should be repeated in Asia,” he observed.

While the Chinese Foreign Minister spoke on the US, Taiwan, Russia, Japan and the Middle East, he did not touch on India in his address nor were any questions posed on his recent meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here last week.

The US-India Commercial Dialogue and CEO Forum will be held on March 10 to discuss cooperation in various sectors that could unlock new trade and investment opportunities between the two countries. But on a bilateral plane, Raimondo will also take forward discussions in the hi-tech domain between National Security Advisers (NSAs) Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan on collaboration in six broad segments.

The US Commerce Department handles export control laws which the two sides have been trying to relax, including facilitating resilient semi-conductor supply chains.

Attempt to trigger confrontation

The US’ Indo-Pacific strategy is an attempt to gang up to form exclusive blocs to trigger a confrontation by plotting an Asia- Pacific version of NATO. — Qin Gang, Chinese Foreign Minister