External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Malaysian counterpart Zambry Abdul Kadir will be holding talks next week in New Delhi with focus on the security challenges in the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region amid reports about growing aggressive behaviour of China in the region. Beijing’s belligerent activities in the South China Sea will also figure during the meeting, sources said.
The Foreign Minister of Malaysia will pay an official visit to India from November 6-7 at the invitation of EAM Jaishankar. He will co-chair the 6th India-Malaysia Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) on November 7 in New Delhi. The two countries would discuss the ways to strengthen defence and strategic partnership in what assumes significance in the light of China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific and also in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the sources aware of the preparations ahead of this meeting in New Delhi told The Daily Guardian.
In fact, Malaysia is quite important to India in terms of its strategy to deal with the security challenges in the Indian Ocean and the entire Indo-Pacific due to China’s expansionist agenda. It is said that no one can control the Indian Ocean without controlling the Strait of Malaya. Moreover, New Delhi sees ties with Kuala Lumpur as a significant factor of its Act East Policy. Malaysia also realises the geopolitical and economic importance of India.
Malaysia was one of the Southeast Asian countries to have rubbished China’s claim that it had made on the new so-called “national map” some time back. After India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam had all rejected the map, saying it violates their territorial claims. Malaysia then said it did not recognise the map, calling it a “provocation.” The Malaysian government had sent a protest note to China over the latter’s claims on the South China Sea which also covers Malaysia’s maritime areas. The map holds no binding authority over Malaysia, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry had said in a statement.
In view of all these facts, the Malaysian foreign minister’s visit is being seen as an important development. “The Joint Commission Meeting will review the progress of Enhanced Strategic Partnership with Malaysia in the area political, defense, security, economic, trade and investment, health, science and technology, culture, tourism and people to people ties, and will also discuss regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest,” said a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). “The visit will provide an opportunity to comprehensively review bilateral relations and to explore ways to further deepen and strengthen them,” the statement added. The Malaysian minister will also call on the Vice President of India.
This year in June, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan visited Kuala Lumpur, met his Malaysian counterpart, and expressed the desire to strengthen joint efforts to establish peace and security in the Indo-Pacific. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also visited Malaysia in July this year. This visit was aimed at further enhancing defence and strategic ties between the two nations. He discussed with his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan ways to further expand bilateral defence relationship, maximise the utility of existing mechanisms, and increase industrial cooperation.