Departure Statement by Prime Minister

Prime Minister's Office//Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav//Posted On: 28 AUG 2025 at 8:41PM by PIB Delhi

 on the eve of visit to Japan and China

New Delhi: 28th August 2025: (PIB Delhi//The Eagle Eye News Desk)::

At the invitation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, I am embarking on a two day visit to Japan for the 15th Annual Summit.

During my visit, we would focus on shaping the next phase in our Special Strategic and Global Partnership, which has made steady and significant progress over the past eleven years.  We would endeavor to give new wings to our collaboration, expand scope and ambition of our economic and investment ties, and advance cooperation in new and emerging technologies, including AI and Semiconductors.  The visit will also be an opportunity to strengthen our civilizational bonds and cultural ties that connect our peoples.  

From Japan, I will travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. India is an active and constructive member of SCO. During our Presidency, we have introduced new ideas and initiated collaboration in the fields of innovation, health and cultural exchanges. India remains committed to working with the SCO members to address shared challenges and deepen regional cooperation. I also look forward to meeting President Xi Jinping, President Putin and other leaders on the sidelines of the Summit.

I am confident that my visits to Japan and China would further our national interests and priorities, and contribute to building fruitful cooperation in advancing regional and global peace, security, and sustainable development.

 ***//MJPS/SR//(Release ID: 2161680)

Dempsey Visits South Korea

04/21/2013 06:49 AM CDT                              Sun, Apr 21, 2013 at 5:01 PM China on Weeklong Asia Trip By Karen Parrish American Forces Press Service Beijing, April 21, 2013 - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in South Korea today for meetings with senior U.S. and South Korean commanders. Hours later the chairman was airborne again, heading for a weeklong series of engagements in China and Japan. En route to Beijing, Dempsey spoke to reporters traveling with him about his meetings in Seoul with Army Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, and South Korean chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Jung Seung-jo. Dempsey said the three discussed several issues important to the U.S.-South Korea alliance, but the current si tuation with North Korea was their central topic. North Korea conducted an illegal nuclear test in February, and since has issued a series of threats and provocations aimed chiefly at the United States. "Seoul is rather normal," the chairman said, noting soccer games, bike races, and other everyday activities were readily observable today. The South Korean military is, however, on a heightened state of readiness, he added. In particular, the allies are focusing on intelligence gathering, the maritime domain, ballistic missile defense and counter-battery artillery fire, he said. The chairman said the "newest insight" he gained from today's discussion came from both Jung and Thurman, who noted the actions of Kim Jong Un, the young, hereditary leader of North Korea, bear marked differences from those of his father, Kim Jong Il, or his grandfather, Kim Il Sung. While the youngest Kim is following suit with them by continuing the "military first" policy under which the nation's scant resources go first to supporting the military and its weapons programs, Dempsey said one key difference is in the provocations most recently heard from Pyongyang. "We're not into a series of cyclic provocations," as has been typical in the past, he said, but instead the allies now see a prolonged campaign of provocative words and actions.  According to numerous reports North Korea has cut military communications between the two nations, blocked access from the south to the joint North-South industrial area of Kaesong near the demilitarized zone, and threatened various "sea of fire" attacks while moving missiles into launch-ready positions. "The question that we were discussing today primarily was, 'How do we posture ourselves for a period of prolonged provocation? How do you sustain [that]?'" Dempsey said the likeliest approach Thurman and Jung will take is to increase joint operations, bringing their forces into yet closer alignment to share the responsibilities of prolonged, heightened tension. Dempsey said along with the demands of a sustained, high-readiness force posture, the meetings also touched on the transition to the South Korean military's operational control of wartime alliance activities on the peninsula, set to take place in December of 2015. South Koreans currently lead normal, peacetime military operations, but the U.S. commander would assume control in a wartime setting. Dempsey said he's received a lot of military advice over the last few months, most of it boiling down to "avoid war." "From a military perspective, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it," he said. While the alliance is not seeking to provoke the North, he said, U.S. forces will keep up the "fairly steady pattern" of training exercises, port calls and other activities on the peninsula and in the region. "We have a sustained presence here that I think is assuring to our allies," he added. Later today the chairman arrived in Beijing, where he will spend a few days in high-level meetings before moving on to Tokyo.

Biographies: Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey

Ms. Luo Mei in New Delhi

Shri Ajay Maken meeting Ms. Luo Mei

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Ajay Maken meeting the Secretary, Secretariat, Central Committee, Communist Youth League of China Ms. Luo Mei, in New Delhi on February 27, 2012. [PIB photo]   

Mao Hengfeng has been released in China

We're thrilled to announce that Mao Hengfeng, a prisoner of conscience and recent Write for Rights case, has been released in China!

Dear Rector, We have great news to report — Mao Hengfeng was released unexpectedly yesterday, six months before the end of her sentence! She had been detained since March 2010 for protesting the arrest of Liu Xiaobo, a prominent human rights defender and Nobel Peace Prize winner. This most recent detention was only one of many for Mao. Mao has courageously worked for human rights in China for years, and has suffered torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the Chinese authorities. Mao was featured as a case in Amnesty's 2010 Write for Rights campaign, which generated an incredible number – 636,139 – of appeals, from 51 different countries worldwide, for the release of Mao and other human rights activists. Mao's husband, Wu Xuewei, believes that international pressure was integral to Mao's release, and he sends his thanks to Amnesty for all the campaigning we've all done on Mao's behalf. This year's Write for Rights campaign has already seen some amazing successes, including the release of Femi Peters in Gambia, and now the release of Mao Hengfeng. We sincerely thank you for your letters, which have already delivered hope for so many. But we still need your help to free thousands of other human rights activists who suffer unjustly in detention. Donate today to fund Amnesty's work to release prisoners of conscience and defenders of human rights all over the world! Sincerely, Michael O’Reilly Senior Campaign Director, Individuals at Risk Amnesty International USA  Share on Facebook  Share on Twitter Join us March 2011 in San Francisco for our 50th Anniversary AGM!