Four months after mentioning the situation in South China Sea in a joint statement, India and the US on Sunday released a Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions in a move unlikely to go unnoticed in Beijing.
After their first bilateral meeting last year in September, Barack Obama and Narendra Modi issued a joint statement expressing concern about "rising tensions over maritime territorial disputes" in that region.
The joint strategic vision reaffirmed the same, saying regional prosperity depended on security.
"We affirm the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea," it said.
"We call on all parties to avoid the threat or use of force and pursue resolution of territorial and maritime disputes through all peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," it added.
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