Mar 20, 2022: Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida, on a visit to New Delhi, called on the Indian prime minister to take a tougher stand on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has urged his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, to take a tougher line on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but a joint statement after talks in New Delhi fell short of condemning Moscow’s actions.

Contrary to the stance of its fellow members of the Quad alliance – Japan, Australia and the United States – India has abstained in the United Nations votes deploring Russia’s actions, calling only for a halt to the violence while still buying Russian oil.

Kishida told a joint news conference on Saturday that he and Modi had “in-depth talks” and that “Russia’s invasion has shaken the foundations of the international system and must be dealt with firmly.”

Modi however made no direct reference to Ukraine, and his subsequent joint statement only called for an “immediate end to the violence” and said there was no alternative to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict. India’s stance underlined that the alliance must remain focused on its “core objective … in the Indo-Pacific region” of promoting peace, stability and prosperity.

Earlier this month, the other Quad leaders – Kishida, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison – also failed to win the Indian prime minister over to their position on Ukraine.

Traditionally, Russia has been India’s main arms supplier since the Soviet era, but now New Delhi also needs more support from the Quad and others in the region and beyond in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

The two leaders also expressed their concern “about the situation in Myanmar and called for an end to violence, the release of all those detained and a return to the path of democracy”, the statement said.

They also committed to further cooperation on tackling climate change and condemned North Korea’s “destabilising ballistic missile launches”.

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