Beijing: China earlier this week gathered 19 international locations together with all international locations from South Asia besides India to attend a primary Indian Ocean-focused discussion board, the most recent pointer to Beijing’s increasing affect within the strategic maritime area and key sea commerce route.

Ministerial officers and senior diplomats from Indonesia, Iran, Myanmar, Australia and eight African international locations together with South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania attended the primary Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation (IORFDC) within the southwestern metropolis of Kunming on November 21.

India wasn’t invited to the desk, in response to officers.

The discussion board was organised by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), a authorities company headed by former vice overseas minister and Chinese ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui.

Taking the chance for the discussion board to widen its sphere of affect within the huge maritime area, China proposed to determine a marine catastrophe prevention and mitigation cooperation mechanism with the international locations within the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

China is “…ready to provide necessary financial, material, and technical support to countries in need,” a CIDCA assertion launched on the finish of the discussion board mentioned.

“China also proposed the establishment of a blue economy think tank network for China and countries in the Indian Ocean region with the support of (the province of) Yunnan,” the assertion added.

The areas on which the international locations vowed to focus have been tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, local weather disaster, rising catastrophe dangers, marine biodiversity loss, marine air pollution, and their affect on financial and social stability and improvement that international locations within the area have suffered.

“They emphasised that it is necessary to strengthen policy coordination,” the CIDCA assertion added.

The discussion board was Beijing’s newest effort to achieve out to international locations dotting the IOR.

During his tour of Sri Lanka in January this yr, Chinese state councillor and overseas minister Wang Yi had proposed to determine a “forum on the development of Indian Ocean Island Countries”, which is alleged to be separate outreach by the Chinese authorities.

The new China-led discussion board, centered on improvement, may very well be interpreted to have been geared toward countering New Delhi’s conventional affect within the IOR the place the Indian Ocean Rim Association, (IORA), with India as a founding member, has taken root.

The IORA’s function is to strengthen regional cooperation throughout the Indian Ocean Region and it presently has 23 members and 10 dialogue companions.

China is a dialogue associate within the IORA.

Besides the IORA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed “Security and Growth for All in the Region” (SAGAR) in 2015 for energetic cooperation among the many littoral international locations of the Indian Ocean area.

There can also be the Indian Navy-backed ‘Indian Ocean Naval Symposium’, which seeks to extend maritime cooperation amongst navies of the area.

Ties between India and China are at its worst in many years for the reason that June 2020 Galwan Valley conflict between the border troops of the 2 international locations.

India has constantly maintained that peace and tranquillity alongside the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for the general improvement of bilateral relations with China.