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U.S., allies for stronger ties with India

Melbourne: Viewing India as an emerging “great power,” the U.S., Australia and Japan on Saturday expressed keenness to strengthen ties with New Delhi but ruled out immediate plans to include it in their three-way strategic dialogue.

In their landmark security talks, U.S. President George W. Bush, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe focussed on how to boost ties with India as they met over breakfast on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney.

“There was a lot of discussion about India, a lot of optimism about India, the importance of strengthening our relations with India,” Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters, adding “there’s a recognition now that India is a coming great power.”

Mr. Downer said India was the world’s largest democracy and its economy was growing at a rapid rate and “it’s a country that we’re all feeling increasingly comfortable working with.”

“It was an opportunity to talk about a range of different issues but certainly to focus on India and the importance of that country to us in the Asia-Pacific region and broader geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

The discussion on engaging New Delhi more came at a time when the three countries are holding joint naval exercises with India in the Bay of Bengal.

Mr. Downer, however, said expanding the three-way strategic dialogue to include India was not on the table for the moment.

“Nothing like that is going to happen any time soon, we are looking more in a general sense at progressing the relationship,” he said.

Ahead of Saturday’s meeting, the three developed countries sought to allay China’s fears, saying the dialogue was not aimed against any country.

“As far as China is concerned, the three leaders shared the same recognition that it’s important to have a positive engagement with China,” Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba said after the talks.

Besides India and China’s growing regional influence, the three leaders discussed the North Korean and Iran nuclear issues at the meeting, which was also attended by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mr. Downer.

Mr. Downer again said that leaders at the APEC summit were unlikely to expand their club to take in India or any other country by lifting a leadership moratorium. — PTI

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