Accepting that equation is “very complex”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said it is in the interest of both India and China to find an equilibrium, and emphasised that India’s economic trajectory will put a premium on its ties with countries like Russia and Canada.
During a discussion with C Raja Mohan, Contributing Editor, The Indian Express, at the launch of foreign policy magazine ‘India’s World’, in New Delhi, which was attended by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Jaishankar said, “Eventually, it’s in the interest of both India and China to reach an equilibrium. Conceptually, it’s difficult to do because both are changing in absolute terms and vis-a-vis the world.”
“The world is changing, they (India and China) are changing, their relationship with the world is changing and their relationship with each other is also changing. In all these changes, how do you find equilibrium? It’s not going to be easy,” he said, responding to a question on India’s relationship with China and how the two big Asian neighbours can co-exist peacefully.
Referring to the issues along the LAC, he said, “We are still grappling with the short term (issue), which is to focus on de-escalation. While disengagement has been worked out, there are other issues which confront us.” In October this year, India and China reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements.
On India’s ties with Russia, despite pushback from the West in the wake of the Ukraine war, he said Russia is a very unique aspect of India’s foreign policy and a “major power globally, and certainly in Eurasia, it is something more than that”. He stressed that “in International Relations 101, your neighbour’s neighbour has an enormous value.”
“Today, India is finding new convergences and intersections. A country like India at this stage of its growth, the resource powers of the world have to be our major partners,” he said.
“India’s economic trajectory will put some premium on (its ties with) countries like Russia, Indonesia, Australia, or even Canada,” he said, adding, “It’s a new compulsion and new rationalisation of who our partners would be.”
Though he didn’t mention how India aims to navigate its ties with the US under President-elect Donald Trump, he said, “As part of our relationship with the US, we have very honest conversations on where we agree and where we don’t”, adding that the India-US ties is “large and important”.
Jaishankar underlined that Europe is an important partner in terms of many of the key concerns — supply chains, AI, semiconductors and digital exchanges. “There is a broad intersection which needs to be built upon,” he said.
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