India, ASEAN seek to boost ties amid US-China rivalry

By ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Foreign ministers from India and Southeast Asia are meeting in New Delhi, with India and Singapore calling for a strengthening of ties amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and a heightened rivalry between the United States and China that threaten peace and stability in the region. India’s external affairs minister says India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations face geopolitical headwinds from the war in Ukraine and its impact on food and energy security, prices and supply chain. He says India fully supports a strong, unified, prosperous ASEAN whose centrality in the Indo-Pacific is fully recognized.