No one should make China an issue in bilateral ties: Beijing on Modi-Trump meeting

No one should make China an issue in their bilateral relations and their cooperation should not harm the interests of another country, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday reacting to queries on the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Trump.

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Modi’s meeting with Trump in Washington, weeks after the US President assumed office for his second term, has evoked considerable interest in China, especially on defence cooperation between New Delhi and Washington.

In the joint statement issued after the Modi-Trump talks, the two leaders reaffirmed that a close partnership between the US and India is central to a free, open, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and spoke of strengthening Quad partnership among other issues.

Replying to questions on this, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said bilateral cooperation should not target third countries.

“No one should make China an issue in the relations and cooperation between countries or seek to instigate bloc politics and confrontation,” Guo said to a question on Trump's offer to provide F-35 fighter jets to India besides strengthening defence cooperation.

China believes that relations and cooperation between countries should not target any third party or harm others' interests, and should be conducive to regional peace, stability and prosperity, he said.

The joint statement issued after the Modi-Trump meeting on Thursday (early Friday India time) said the two countries have agreed to advance India-US defence ties and launched a new initiative, the ‘US-India COMPACT' (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century.

On the references to the Indo-Pacific, which includes the disputed South China Sea, which China claims most, against the counter-claims of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, Guo claimed “the Asia-Pacific is a stellar example of peace and development, not an arena for geopolitical games”.

“Ganging up to form exclusive groupings and engaging in bloc politics and confrontation will not bring about security and will by no means keep the Asia-Pacific and the whole world peaceful and stable,” he said.