India attends the East Asia Summit; Hanoi declaration adopted

Hanoi, Nov 17 : External Affairs minister S Jaishankar virtually represented India at the 15th East Asia Summit held at the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. The Summit was held between 18 members which include 10 ASEAN countries and the other eight being India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, US and the Republic of Korea.

 

Jaishankar expressed grave concerns over eroding trust in the South China sea region. He also highlighted the importance of adhering to international sea laws and respecting sovereignty and integrity.

 

China claims sovereignty of all the South China Sea that holds huge hydrocarbon reserves. He stated India's stand about this as India has been promoting rules-based order in the region. This is mainly about adhering to the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the sea).

 

At the summit, important previous declarations of Kuala Lumpur Declaration (2005), Hanoi Declaration (2010), Bali Declation (2011) and Kuala Lumpur Declaration (2015) were reaffirmed through the new Hanoi Declaration of 2020.

 

The Hanoi declaration emphasized on the ASEAN-centred regional architecture. The summit stressed on the need to further enable East Asia Summit as an effective platform. It stressed upon the effective implementation of Manila Plan of Action to advance the Phnom Penh Declaration (2018-2022) which focuses on East Asia Development Initiative.