NEW DELHI: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in India on Saturday, with officials in Tokyo predicting “candid discussions” about New Delhi’s unwillingness to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Unlike fellow members of the Quad alliance — Japan, Australia and the US — India has abstained in three UN votes deploring Moscow’s actions, calling only for a halt to the violence. Earlier this month in a four-way call of Quad leaders, Kishida, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison failed to convince India’s Narendra Modi to take a tougher line.
A joint statement had said they “discussed the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and assessed its broader implications” — without any condemnation of Moscow. A separate Indian readout pointedly “underlined that the Quad must remain focused on its core objective of promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”