India on Wednesday welcomed ASEAN’s decision to articulate its ‘own views’ on the Indo Pacific and said there are possibilities of ‘convergence’ with the Indian views especially from the standpoint of principles.
“Given our Prime Minister’s enunciation at the Shangri-La Dialogue in June 2018 of a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific, of which India is an important part, we warmly welcome ASEAN’s decision to articulate its own views of the concept,” MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar said
in response to a query on India’s view on the recently announced ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific as announced by the group on June 24.
“We have seen the text of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, issued at the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok on June 24,” he said.
The spokesman further said while “we are studying the ASEAN perspective closely, we see important elements of convergence with our own views, especially from the standpoint of principles, as well as its approach and ASEAN’s listing of areas of cooperation”.
The ASEAN leaders at the initiative of Indonesia adopted the document ‘ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’ was adopted in the plenary session of the 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok.
Media reports said the adoption was concluded despite a rumor that Singapore wanted more time to discuss the matter.
Proposed by Indonesia, the outlook is ‘intended’ to serve as the guideline for ASEAN in engaging its external partners, including the rivaling superpowers of the United States and China, media reports said.
