In a veiled reference to China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, “Covid-19 has shown that dependence of global supply chains on one source is risky.”
PM Modi’s snide remark aimed at China came during the India-Denmark virtual bilateral summit on Monday. Though PM Modi refrained from naming China, he succeeded in driving home the message. The message was clear that China is an elephant in the room.
He went on to add, “We are working with Japan and Australia on supply-chain diversification and resilience. Other like-minded nations can join too.”
PM Modi’s comments assume significance in the light of the fact that India and China are engaged in a military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, and ties with Beijing have plummeted over the crisis.
The PM’s statement is also indicative of the fact that the Indian leadership is using every single opportunity to show the true colour of the Dragon in front of the world community. Sources said that PM Modi has already told External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar not to miss even a single opportunity to expose China on a global platform so as to generate a world opinion against it.
The Indian foreign minister, foreign secretary and other MEA officials are strictly following what PM Modi has said, say sources.
Recently, tension along LAC and Chinese aggressive behaviour figured in talks between PM Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday. The PM had on Saturday taken a swipe at Beijing’s depttrap diplomacy. Addressing the UNGA, PM Modi had said that India strengthens its development partnership without any mala fide intent of making partner countries dependent or hapless. This remark of the PM was actually aimed at taking a swipe at China’s “debt-trap” diplomacy.
Sources told The Daily Guardian that PM Modi makes it a point to expose China’s ulterior motives on international forums or while in a meeting with any world leader. MEA officials consider PM Modi’s prerecorded remark at the UN as “a strong public rebuke on China’s debt-trap diplomacy which got reflected with Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in India’s neighbourhood”.
During his interaction with Denmark’s PM Metter Frederiksen, PM Modi did not miss the chance to refer to China as he spoke about the global supply chains. PM Modi also welcomed Denmark’s proposal to host a second knowledge summit.
The MEA in a statement on Sunday had confirmed that the virtual bilateral meet will allow both leaders to review the broad framework of India-Denmark ties. While contributing to the ‘White Revolution’ in India, Denmark has also emerged as a stakeholder in India’s growing wind energy sector.
India and Denmark share mutual interests and have joined forces to fight against climate change. According to sources, it was a cause of worry that the global supply chain has been influenced by China drastically. While dealing with the challenges of China, India has been making efforts to cut Beijing down to size in every field. “Keeping this in mind, India, Australia and Japan announced a supply chain resilience initiative which called for enhancing the resilience of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific region,” sources said.
The PM said, “The events of the past few months have made it clear that for like-minded countries like us, who share a rules-based, transparent, humanitarian and democratic value-system need to work together.”