Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh’s two-day visit to Mongolia and his trip to Tokyo will be closely tracked by Beijing. The minister is preparing for the second round of India-Japan 2+2 talks involving Indian and Japanese foreign and defence ministers on September 8.
China will monitor India’s upcoming high-level engagements in its neighbouring countries Mongolia and Japan as New Delhi looks to bolster ties in the region.
Singh has a day full of high-level engagements lined up on September 6, a day after reaching Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. The visit will be headlined by a one-on-one meeting with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, who will also host a dinner in Singh’s honour that very evening.
A prime focus on the agenda is likely to be the completion of Mongolia’s biggest oil refinery which is being built on a $1.2 billion line of credit from India. The refinery is coming up in Mongolia’s Dornogobi province and is expected to meet 75 % of the country’s requirements once completed in 2025, reported Indian publication The Hindustan Times.
“The refinery will address 75 % of Mongolia’s requirements. The country sources its fossil fuel from its biggest neighbour and traditional ally, Russia. India is also assisting Mongolia to build its railway and power infrastructure to help transport Mongolia’s mineral wealth,” Mongolian news website, news.mn reported in early April.
A cyber security centre, which India has helped establish for the Mongolian defence ministry, will be inaugurated by Singh on September 6.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the Cyber Security Training Centre was signed in 2015 during Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit. “Through this agreement, India will establish a Cyber Security Training Centre for the Ministry of Defence, Government of Mongolia and will also undertake the training of personnel in cyber security,” the 2015 MoU said. The same visit saw India-Mongolia bilateral ties upgraded to the level of strategic partnership.
Singh will hold meetings with Mongolian defence minister, Gursed Saikhanbayar, and the speaker of parliament, Gombojav Zandanshatar, before leaving for Tokyo on September 7.
Mongolia regards India as its “third” and a “spiritual neighbour”. The country’s “third” neighbour approach is said to be a doctrine to balance its ties with its two big neighbours, China and Russia.
On Friday, Chinese state media issued a veiled warning saying close ties between New Delhi and Tokyo should not target a “third country in the backdrop of the upcoming high-level meetings”.
In recent years, the two Asian countries have enhanced their relationship especially during (former PM Shinzo) Abe’s tenure with an evident major purpose – trying hard to contain China’s peaceful development in the region,” Chinese observers told the state-run tabloid, Global Times.
China slams Indo-US military drills
China on Thursday strongly opposed the war games scheduled between India and the US near the disputed Sino-India border in October. The Communist state said it’s an interference in the bilateral boundary issue and a gross violation of agreements between New Delhi and Beijing, which China claims explicitly states that no military drill will be held near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between the two countries.
