Phnom Penh, July 13 (ANI): Indirectly taking on China, External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna has said that New Delhi supported navigation and access to resources in the South China Sea.
"We said that the right to navigation and then access to resources has to be assured-tries to be ensured. Let us hope that member nations will adopt that formula," said Krishna.
Krishna further urged that the matter should be resolved through dialogue and discussions.
"Speakers, who participated in the discussions, did convey the message. And the message was that all outstanding issues must be resolved peacefully, through a process of dialogue and discussions, and those dialogue and discussions should be taking place without any intimidation or without any pressure tactics," he added.
Krishna arrived here to attend the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum retreat session.
High on the agenda for ASEAN is the agreement on the contents of a code of conduct for the South China Sea, an area claimed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam and other non-ASEAN countries.
China has maintained that it wants to discuss the territorial dispute bilaterally with those involved, but the Philippines and Vietnam say they want the issue to be dealt with collectively as well, through ASEAN.
Neighbouring countries are eager to see a peaceful resolution to the dispute and some like the United States see it as an opportunity to keep China's influence in check in the sea, which is a vital shipping lane.
ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It groups nearly 600 million people from disparate economic and political systems.
The ASEAN-India ministerial meeting is an annual meeting that takes stock of the ASEAN-India partnership and deliberates on its future direction.
India became a Sectoral Partner of ASEAN in 1992 and a Dialogue Partner in 1996.
The relationship was upgraded in 2002 to the level of an Annual Summit Level Partnership. Nine ASEAN-India Summits have been held since then. (ANI)
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