“I am not coming here to give a lecture to India on how it should respond to this conflict, or how it should manage its relationship with Russia. Each country has to make its own decisions,” Marles said.
Loading
“But Russia’s war on Ukraine teaches us that we cannot rely solely on economic interdependence to deter conflict. and this deterrence can fail when the certain military accumulation of a country creates an imbalance of military power. “
This imbalance had encouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin to conclude that the benefits of the conflict outweigh the risks, Marles said. He did not mention China’s harassment of Taiwan, but warned that “it is in our best interest to ensure that no country in our region ever reaches a similar trial.”
On Tuesday, 29 Chinese planes, including bombers and an intelligence-gathering plane, entered the air defense identification zone of southwestern Taiwan. It was the third largest departure of Chinese warplanes to fly near the Taiwan Strait this year.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the United States was concerned about China’s aggressive rhetoric, its growing pressure and intimidation in Taiwan after Chinese officials tried to claim that Taiwan Strait was no longer in international waters.
“We will continue, as we have said before, flying, sailing and operating where permitted by international law, and this includes transit through the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro and Putin are scheduled to meet virtually on Thursday for the BRICS summit in Beijing.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents about what’s happening to headlines around the world. Subscribe to the weekly What in the World newsletter.