PM Narendra Modi woos Pacific Island nations with projects

From setting up dialysis units in all the 14 Pacific Island nations to providing sea-ambulance and desalination unit to each of them, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced several projects as India joined Japan, Australia and the US in trying to counter China’s move to expand its strategic footprints in the region.

Modi also announced that India would set up a super-specialty cardiology hospital in Fiji, one of the Pacific Island nations.

The Prime Minister had a meeting with the leaders of the 14 Pacific Island nations at Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The United States too on the same day inked defence and maritime security agreements with Papua New Guinea. The move by the US was apparently a response to China’s recent security agreement with Solomon Islands.

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Japan and Australia, the partners of India and the US in the Quad, are also stepping up engagements with Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and other countries in the region, ostensibly to stop the island nations from drifting into the orbit of influence of China.

“Those whom we considered trustworthy, it turned out that they were not standing by our side in times of need,” Modi told the leaders of the Pacific Island nations, referring to the “challenging times” the world went through over the past few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “During these challenging times, an old saying has proven true: A friend in need is a friend indeed,” he said, noting that India stood with its Pacific island friends through the pandemic. “Whether it was vaccines or essential medicines, wheat or sugar; India, in line with its capabilities, has been assisting all partner countries.”

Apart from the hospital in Fiji and the dialysis units in all the Pacific Island nations, Modi also promised that New Delhi would organize a Jaipur Foot Camp in Papua New Guinea, just as it had done last year in Fiji. He said that two Jaipur Foot Camp would be organized every year in the Pacific Island nations to provide free prosthetic limbs to disabled people.

“Whether it's humanitarian assistance or your development, you can count India as a reliable partner,” Modi said at the FIPIC III summit, announcing a project for the development of the small and medium enterprise sector in every Pacific Island country, which will get machinery and technology supplies from India. New Delhi would also conduct capacity-building programs for the islanders.

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New Delhi will upgrade the Centre of Excellence for Information Technology it had set up in Papua New Guinea and transform it into a "Regional Information Technology and Cybersecurity Hub”, the Prime Minister said in Port Moresby on Monday.

Modi had a bilateral meeting with his host, James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, on the sideline of the FIPIC III summit. He also had a bilateral meeting with Manasseh Damukana Sogavare, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, who recently gave the US, Japan and Australia the jitters, by inking a security deal with the Chinese Government. The deal could pave the way for China to deploy its armed forces in Solomon Islands.

“India respects your priorities. It feels proud to be your development partner,” the Prime Minister said.

Modi also reiterated India’s position on the Indo-Pacific region amid China’s increasing belligerence in the East China Sea and the South China Sea as well as in the Taiwan Strait.

“We support a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. We respect the sovereignty and integrity of all countries,” said the Prime Minister.