E-Paper
China to closely track Indian ministers’ visit to Mongolia, Japan
While focus will be on the second round of India-Japan 2+2 talks involving Indian and Japanese foreign and defence ministers on September 8, defence minister Rajnath Singh’s two-day visit to Mongolia ahead of his Tokyo visit will be closely tracked by Beijing as well
BEIJING: China will closely track India’s upcoming high-level engagements in its neighbouring countries Mongolia and Japan as New Delhi sends its senior ministers to bolster ties in the region.
While focus will be on the second round of India-Japan 2+2 talks involving Indian and Japanese foreign and defence ministers on September 8, defence minister Rajnath Singh’s two-day visit to Mongolia ahead of his Tokyo visit will be closely tracked by Beijing as well.
Singh has a day full of high-level interactions lined up on September 6, a day after reaching Mongolia, in Ulaanbaatar headlined by a one-on-one meeting with President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh who is also hosting a dinner in Singh’s honour that evening.
A primary talking point in the discussion agenda is likely to be the completion of Mongolia’s biggest oil refinery 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.
“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.
Singh will also inaugurate a cyber security centre, which India has helped establish for the Mongolian defence ministry, on September 6.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the Cyber Security Training Centre was signed with the Mongolian government when Prime Minister, Narendra Modi visited the country in 2015 after visiting China.
“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.
It was during Modi’s visit that India-Mongolia bilateral ties were upgraded to the level of strategic partnership.
Singh will meet the Mongolian defence minister, Gursed Saikhanbayar, and the speaker of parliament, Gombojav Zandanshatar, the same day, before flying to Tokyo on September 7.
Mongolia regards India as its “third” and a “spiritual neighbour” with the “third” neighbour approach is said to be a doctrine Mongolia follows to balance its ties with its two big neighbours, China and Russia.
Chinese state media, meanwhile, said on Friday that 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.
As the border standoff between China and India continues, more and more conservative people in India see China as a security challenge, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the tabloid.
“This hostile mind-set among some Indians has driven the country to bound tighter with its allies - the US and Japan - in an attempt to keep China in check and in response China should be on alert,” he said.
