India PM Modi calls for maritime agreement amid sea disputes

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi renewed calls Friday for a maritime agreement that would make international waters more secure. The statement, amid increasingly tense territorial disputes in the South China Sea, was made after a meeting with Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, ahead of an annual international security conference in the city-state. Modi said the two leaders reiterated their commitment to a rules-based order for maritime security and called for an open, fair and transparent agreement to make it happen. Modi will give a keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference, which will be attended by US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, among others.