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Beijing backs initiative to reboot Russia-India-China troika. MEA’s non-committal
China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Beijing is ready to communicate with Moscow and New Delhi on advancing trilateral cooperation.
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday remained non-committal on the revival of the Russia-India-China (RIC) mechanism, stating that the matter would have to be worked out by the three countries in a “mutually convenient manner”.
Following comments by Russian leaders about the revival of RIC, China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Beijing is ready to communicate with Moscow and New Delhi on advancing trilateral cooperation.
When external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked about the matter at a weekly media briefing, he said no decision had been made so far in this regard.
“This consultative format is a mechanism where the three countries...discuss global issues and regional issues of interest to them,” Jaiswal said.
“As to when this particular RIC format meeting is going to be held, it is something that will be worked out among the three countries in a mutually convenient manner, and we will let you know as and when that happens at an appropriate time when the meeting is to take place,” he added.
People familiar with the matter said no meeting of the RIC mechanism has been agreed to at this point in time. There are no discussions underway on the scheduling of such a meeting, they said.
Russia’s deputy foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko was quoted by the Russian media as saying on Thursday that Moscow expects the resumption of the RIC format and is discussing this issue with Beijing and New Delhi.
“This topic appears in our negotiations with both of them. We are interested in making this format work, because these three countries are important partners, besides the founders of Brics,” Rudenko said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian responded to Rudenko’s comments by saying cooperation between India, China and Russia serves the interests of the three countries and upholds peace, security, stability and progress in the region and in the world.
“China stands ready to maintain communication with Russia and India on advancing the trilateral cooperation,” Lin said.
Last month, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at an event organised by a think tank in Moscow that he expected the RIC mechanism to be revived following signs of a thaw in India-China relations.
“It [RIC] has met several times over the past years. Our meetings have been on pause for a while, first, because of the pandemic and later because of the escalation on the India-China border. Reportedly, the situation is getting better, and we expect RIC to resume its work soon,” Lavrov said.
