After gap of 12 years, Russia, India, China, resume RIC trilateral summit

After a gap of 12 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday participated in the RIC (Russia, India, China) trilateral meeting on the margins of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. During the trilateral meeting, the leaders of three countries held discussions on various issues of mutual interest and emphasised on increased cooperation and coordination towards achieving global peace and stability, the External Affairs Ministry said.

“The 2^nd Russia-India-China ‘RIC’ Trilateral Summit took place in Buenos Aires after a gap of 12 years. In a meeting characterised by warmth and positivity, leaders discussed cooperation and coordination in various areas which could contribute to global peace and stability,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar wrote on Twitter.

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The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that the meeting saw India’s strengthening engagement with valued development partners – Russia and China. “Deepening engagement with valued development partners. President Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping and PM Narendra Modi participate in the RIC (Russia, India, China) trilateral in Buenos Aires” the PMO tweeted.

The Russia-India-China meeting came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, and US President Donald Trump held their first trilateral summit aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region where China has been flexing its muscles.

Named as ‘JAI’ (Japan, America, India), the trilateral meeting among the leaders of three powerful economies ended with all the partners agreeing on making the Indo-Pacific a region for shared economic growth.

“When you look at the acronym of our three countries—Japan, America, and India—it is ‘JAI’, which stands for success in Hindi,” the prime minister said while asserting that India will “continue to work together on shared values.”

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The ‘JAI’ meeting assumed significance amid China’s incursion in free waters of the South China sea – the minerals, oil and other natural resources-rich areas in Indo-Pacific regions. While China claims almost all of the South China Sea, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan overlap the Chinese claims in the waterway, which includes a highly strategic sea route through which about USD 3 trillion in global trade passes each year.