At JAI - Japan, America, India trilateral meeting, PM Modi bats for shared prosperity in Indo-Pacific

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a trilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Buenos Aires. During the meeting, PM Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to make the Indo-Pacific a region for shared economic prosperity. He also gave a new acronym JAI – Japan, America and India – to the first ever trilateral summit between the leaders of three powerful democracies.

“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.”

#WATCH PM Narendra Modi on meeting US President Trump and Japan PM Shinzo Abe says 'Both countries are our strategic partners and both leaders are my good friends. Japan, USA, India acronym is JAI, so Jai in India means success. This sends a good message.' #G20 #Argentina pic.twitter.com/VhHPVXd1dB

— ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2018

Terming the ‘JAI’ meeting a “good occasion”, PM Modi said that the convergence of vision among the three nations will play big role in ensuring world peace and stability.

Also Read | Russia pitches for India's participation in China's OBOR

“This is a very good occasion for the three countries—countries which have shared values, democratic values...We will continue to play a big role together for world peace, prosperity and stability,” he said.

Reaffirming India’s commitment to make the Indo-Pacific a region for shared economic growth and common prosperity, PM Modi presented a five-point agenda that would serve the common interest of promoting peace and prosperity in the area.

“JAI (Japan, America, India) trilateral marks the coming together of three friendly nations. Today’s historic JAI meeting was a great beginning. PM @AbeShinzo, @POTUS and I held fruitful talks aimed at furthering connectivity, maritime cooperation and a stable Indo-Pacific,” PM Modi wrote on Twitter after the meeting.

What US President Donald Trump, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said at ‘JAI’ trilateral meeting?

Hailing India’s growth story in the past one decade, US President Donald Trump said, “The relationships between our three countries is extremely good and extremely strong...with India, maybe stronger than ever...We are doing very well together. We are doing a lot of trade together. We are doing a lot of defence together, a lot of military purchases.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also expressed his happiness to participate in the “the first ever ‘JAI’ meeting”. Abe said that the meeting would reinforce the trilateral partnership among India, Japan, and USA and its close cooperation “towards realising a free and open Indo-Pacific”. 

Also Read | Chabahar deal 'not finished'; Pakistan, China welcome: Iran

JAI trilateral meeting sends a strong message to China

The trilateral meeting has sent a strong message to China, which is aggressively flexing its muscles in the South and the East China Sea - the two 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.

China has built and militarised many of the islands in the region. Meanwhile, the US Navy has been conducting regular patrols in the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation in the area which includes a highly strategic sea route through which about USD 3 trillion in global trade passes each year.

(With inputs from agencies)