In an address at the Asean-India summit +We have suffered due to the menace of terror. The time has come for us to unite and think about mitigating terroris... https://t.co/DA9oHvbkN9 — PMO India (@PMOIndia) 1510656214000MANILA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for intensifying regional cooperation to effectively deal with terrorism and pitched for a rules-based security architecture for the resource-rich region, seen as a veiled reference to China's expansionist posturing in the Indo-Pacific here, PM Modi identified terrorism and extremism as the major challenge facing the region and said time has come for the countries of the region to join hands to collectively deal with it. "We have individually strived very hard to fight terrorism and violent extremism. It is time that we jointly address this challenge by intensifying cooperation in this crucial area," he said.The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region and India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue partners.In a clear reference to the South China Sea (SCS) dispute which has cast a shadow over the summit talks, PM Modi said India will continue its support to the ASEAN for establishing a rules-based security architecture in the region. "India assures the Asean of its steady support towards achieving a rules-based regional security architecture that best attests to the region's interests and its peaceful development," he said.China's aggressive military build up in the SCS was one of the focus areas of the deliberations at the Asean summit China claims sovereignty over all of SCS, a huge source of hydrocarbons.

Source: Times of India November 14, 2017 12:42 UTC