Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has issued a thinly veiled attack on Chinese “expansionism” during a visit to Tokyo, underlining efforts to forge stronger alliances across Asia to counter Beijing’s influence.
Addressing business leaders in Tokyo, Mr Modi said people had to choose between development and expansionism, and criticised “those with 18th-century ideas, [who] engage in encroachments and enter the seas” of others.
Although he did not name China on this occasion, Mr Modi has previously accused India’s powerful neighbour directly of expansionism, saying during his election campaign that Beijing “should shed its expansionist policy”.