ASEAN Summit: India calls for free, Open and Inclusive Indo-Pacific in Defence Ministers meet

ASEAN Summit: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on November 23, 2022, reaffirmed India’s call for a free, open, and inclusive order in the Indo-Pacific region. The statement came amid China’s growing assertiveness on maritime issues.

While speaking at the 9th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting, during the Cambodia-chaired ADMM Plus gathering at Siem Reap, the Union Minister also called for a peaceful resolution of disputes while respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.

ASEAN- the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 11 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation.

Attended the 9th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting plus in Cambodia today. Exhorted the member nations for peaceful resolution of disputes while respecting the sovereignty & territorial integrity of all the nations.https://t.co/3aaL38iJ9G

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) November 23, 2022

India at ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting

1. The Union Minister while addressing the 9th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting reiterated India’s commitment to nurturing practical, forward-looking, and result-oriented cooperation between India and ADMM Plus countries for enhancing the maritime security in the region.

2. Without naming anyone country or any incident, in particular, the Defence Minister raised concerns about complicating actions and incidents that have further eroded the trust and undermined peace and stability in the region.

3. Defence Minister highlighted that ASEAN Defence Ministers are meeting at a time when the world is seeing increasing strife amplified by disruption politics.

4. He also talked about how terrorist groups had created interlinkages across continents backed by new-age technologies to transfer money and recruit supporters. The transformation of cyber crimes into organized cyber attacks points to the increasing use of new technologies, by both State and non-State actors.

UNSC Committee on Counter Terrorism

The United Nations Security Council Committee on Counter-Terrorism met in October 2022 in New Delhi and adopted the Delhi declaration to counter the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.

While talking about the meeting, the Union Defence Minister said that while terrorism continues to remain a big threat, other security concerns that have emerged in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic cannot be ignored.

About ADMM Plus

The ADMM Plus is an annual Defence Ministers Meeting of 10 ASEAN countries and its 8 dialogue partner countries- India, US, Russia, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. 2022 also marks the 30th anniversary of India-ASEAN relations.

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