Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Malaysia and Singapore last week. What did he accomplish?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Southeast Asia last week, visiting Malaysia and Singapore at a time of great regional turbulence. Modi attended the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur with an aim of not only increasing political, security, and economic cooperation between India and Southeast Asian countries, but also to raise India’s profile in an increasingly important part of the world. Making a direct reference to the South China Sea dispute at the ASEAN-India Summit, Modi took aim at China when he said “India hopes that all parties to the disputes in the South China Sea will abide by the guidelines on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and redouble efforts for early adoption of a Code of Conduct on the basis of consensus.”
At the bilateral level, India and Malaysia pledged to increased bilateral cooperation on a range of defense and security issues, including maritime security, disaster response, and cyber security. Modi and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak made combating terrorism a top priority of Indo-Malaysian ties, with Modi praising Razak for his role in combating extremism and radicalization in Malaysia. India’s soft power was also in the mix with Modi highlighting the cultural ties between India with Malaysia as he inaugurated a Torana gate, a traditional gateway to Hindu and Buddhist temples, with the Malaysian Prime Minister.
Read the full story at The Diplomat