New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called for effective collaboration among maritime nations saying that India stood for rules-based maritime boundaries in the Indo-Pacific in which no nation, howsoever big, maybe allowed to exclude others from its fair use amid increasing assertiveness by China in the region.
Addressing heads of Asian Coast Guard agencies, the defence minister also called for effective collaboration among maritime nations emphasising that India, throughout history, has been a peace-loving society which has never invaded any foreign land and has always respected the territorial integrity of other countries, while treating them as equal partners.
He stressed that oceanic space should be respected as a global commons to benefit all humanity in an environmentally sustainable way.
“We stand for open, free, rules-based maritime borders in Indo-Pacific, in which no nation, howsoever big, may be allowed to appropriate the global common or exclude others from its fair use,” Singh said.
“We are always ready and forthcoming to work with all the like-minded partner countries across various forums towards this endeavour,” he added.
His comments came in the backdrop of rising concerns among leading democratic powers over China’s increasing military muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific.
