South Korea and the Indo-Pacific partners of the NATO discussed expanding cooperation to counter North Korea's escalating provocations, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
"Amidst this volatility, we must enhance our collective strengths by partnering with nations which share common beliefs and values," said Air Chief Marshal.
For, the overlap of multilateral alliances in the region which has come to the fore could well turn out to be counter-productive as critics have been warning for a while now.
India and France reaffirmed their commitment to building one of the premier strategic partnerships for advancing peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
The minister's remarks are significant, given the increasing aggressive posturing being displayed by China on maritime issues.
Though difficult, a sustained naval presence by India in the Indo-Pacific Region may be the only way to counter Chinese intransigence in the Indian Ocean Region or even to contain Chinese intrusions along the LAC. For that we need to change our current strategy of reckoning the IPR only a secondary theatre of interest.
China has been trying to expand its military presence in the bio-geographic region, comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea.
China is now the top shipbuilding nation in the world, and the PLA Navy possesses the largest naval fleet in Asia, a possible forerunner to a permanent Indian Ocean Fleet of the future.
Kono is believed to have told Swaraj that for Japan, India was the most important partner for realising a free Indo-Pacific region.
The visiting minister said the two sides had reviewed the status of the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) project in Jaitapur being built by France and adopted an action plan to give a concrete shape to the proposal.
