Three's Company

When India, Japan and the United States held their first-ever foreign ministers’ meeting two years ago, New Delhi was careful to state it “should not be considered a move against China”.

- Ananth Krishnan

Fast forward two years, and New Delhi is likely to insist the same. But as external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met in New York on September 18, the shadow of China loomed larger than ever.

Shared—and deepening—concern about the rise of China is certainly giving fresh impetus to a three-way mechanism that had somewhat lost its way since it was set up as long as six years ago. Secretary-level talks were upgraded to foreign ministers under the Obama White House, but were then faced with an uncertain fate as Donald Trump swept into office last year, pledging an ‘America First’ approach and hinting at a US withdrawal from Asia.