With Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) assuming alarming proportions, India has now enhanced diplomatic engagement with countries which can help it to reduce Beijing’s manoeuvrability to foment problems for New Delhi.
As part of this strategy, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday met his Iranian counterpart Javed Zarif in Tehran and discussed with him key issues related to China, among other things. While travelling to Moscow for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting, Jaishankar made a stopover in Iran’s capital. EAM Jaishankar is likely to come face-to-face with the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi during the SCO meeting in Moscow.
What was worrying Indian diplomats was the fact that China and Iran are going to sign an economic and strategic agreement worth $400 billion. Sources said that New Delhi is keen to ensure that there is no Chinese involvement in the Chabahar project in Iran. According to sources, this was one of the top agendas of discussion between Jaishankar and Iran’s foreign minister Zarif.
Moreover, Jaishankar apprised the Iranian minister of Chinese “irresponsible” behaviour not only on LAC, but also in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. “Countries like China, which do not abide by the laws and internationally established norms, should be snubbed,” Jaishankar is learnt to have given this message to Tehran.
Jaishankar is said to be accompanied by senior diplomats who are working on China’s desk in the MEA. The Indian team would make all possible efforts to hammer out a formula so that the ongoing deadlock in eastern Ladakh could end.
Sources said the agreement between China and Iran is set to include a major port development project on the Strait of Hormuz. India has not been able to complete the Chabahar Port project as a result of American sanctions against Iran. With that being the case, China is understood to be eyeing the Chabahar project by way of which Beijing wants an entry into Iran with a strategic objective in mind.
That’s the reason why EAM Jaishanakar met his Iranian counterpart and tried his best to scuttle China’s move to grab the incomplete Chabahar project. Jaishankar explained to his Iranian counterpart as to why the project could not be completed. India’s next move for the project was also explained by Jaishankar, sources said.
According to information, India has finished the first phase of the project, which entailed modernising the Chabahar Port and operating it. The second phase is left incomplete which includes constructing a rail link between the port city in the south-eastern part of Iran with Zahedan and other points.