New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday delivered a strict message to China and Pakistan while addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. In his speech, delivered via video conferencing, PM Modi said that all member nations should respect each others' territorial integrity.
"Unfortunately, there are unnecessary attempts to bring bilateral issues in the SCO agenda, which violates SCO Charter and Shanghai spirit," the prime minister said.
“India has strong cultural and historical ties with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation countries...India believes that to enhance connectivity it is important that we move forward while respecting one another's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his speech.
He said that there is an attempt to time and again rake bilateral issues which are against the values and fundamentals of the SCO forum.
A foreign policy expert said that PM Modi was aiming his message to both China, Pakistan and tried to make it very clear that India’s engagement with the SCO is contingent in some ways on this basic principle that India does not talk about bilateral matters. Respecting territorial integrity remains a very important cornerstone of India’s foreign policy priority.
“SCO gives India access to Central Asia which is certainly very important given Afghanistan, other factors and managing terrorism etc but it also challenges Indian diplomacy. Now that Russians are so deeply embedded with the Chinese, it becomes important for India to review whether Russians can play the role of an honest broker as India expects it to. I think that will also be an important consideration going forward”, Observer Research Foundation’s Director Prof Harsh Pant told ETV Bharat.
“As of now, Russia has been unequivocal in supporting India during the border crisis with China. But Russia has also made a statement to the effect that there is a possibility of Sino-Russian military alliance going forward so India will have to waive off these options as it reviews its engagement with the SCO in the future”, Pant added.
Modi in the SCO summit also pointed out that India has remained firm in its commitment to work under the SCO as per the principles laid down in the charter. However, highlighting that this is a very difficult time of the unprecedented epidemic, Modi said that India's pharma industry has sent essential medicines to more than 150 countries.
