India Presses Case Against States That Fund Terrorists At Cebu Talks

India used a regional security meeting in the Philippines to press its argument that countries which fund or shelter armed groups should face no tolerance from the rest of the world, and said the United States had reaffirmed its support for India against cross-border terrorism

Image Via: @SecWar on X

India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, met his American, Japanese, Singaporean and South Korean counterparts in a single day on the margins of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Cebu.

In the meeting with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the two reviewed a ten-year defence framework agreed between the countries and discussed quicker technology transfer, closer integration of defence industries and the security of supply chains. According to India’s defence ministry, Singh called for an uncompromising approach towards states that support, train or finance armed groups, and Hegseth reaffirmed American support for India against cross-border terrorism. No American account of the meeting was issued alongside it.

The language lands in the same week India has been lobbying the Financial Action Task Force, meeting in Paris, to examine Pakistan’s record on acting against a UN-designated militant leader. New Delhi is running the same argument in two forums at once.

The most detailed outcomes came from the meeting with Japan’s defence minister, Shinjiro Koizumi. The two reported progress on mine countermeasure capabilities and on the possibility of jointly developing naval shipbuilding and design, matching Japanese technology with Indian production capacity, a conversation carried forward by a recent visit to Japan by India’s vice chief of naval staff. They noted the first visit to India by Japanese air force fighter aircraft, during an exercise held this year, and an industry forum in Tokyo attended by around forty companies from both countries. Both sides agreed to move towards holding a foreign and defence ministers’ meeting in Tokyo later this year.

With Singapore’s defence minister, Chan Chun Sing, the discussion turned on widening joint exercises across all three services. Singh called Singapore a pillar of India’s policy of engagement with East Asia and invited him to an aerospace exhibition in Bengaluru in February 2027. Singapore takes over the chair of the forum next year.

The meeting with South Korea’s defence minister, Kang Shin-chul, covered the joint development of military technologies, industrial collaboration and maritime security.

The thirteenth ADMM-Plus runs until Thursday under Philippine chairmanship and brings together the ten ASEAN states with eight partner countries, among them India, the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia.