NEW DELHI, May 17: Asia is witnessing new tensions in land and sea as agreements were dishonoured and rule of law disregarded while terrorism has started to consume those who have long practised it, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday, amid China’s military continuing posturing along the frontier in eastern Ladakh and Pakistan’s support to cross-border terrorist activities.
In an address at an event hosted by the CII, Jaishankar also talked about the power of currency and how “threat of sanctions” are deployed in the “toolbox” of global diplomacy, in remarks that came days after the US warned of punitive measures after India and Iran sealed a deal on the Chabahar port.
Jaishankar extensively delved into the consequences of the Ukraine conflict, escalation of violence in West Asia and disruption of logistics in view of the geopolitical tensions, sanctions, incidents of drone attacks in the Red Sea and climate events.
“The world is experiencing a 3F crisis of fuel, food and fertilisers. In Asia, new tensions have emerged in land and sea as agreements are dishonoured and rule of law disregarded,” he said at the annual general meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
“Terrorism and extremism have started to consume those who have long practised it. In many ways, we are actually going through the perfect storm,” he said.
“For India, the task is to mitigate its impact on itself and contribute to stabilising the world to the extent possible. It is this judicious combination of ‘Bharat First’ and ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ that defines our image as ‘Vishwa Bandhu’,” he said.
In remarks seen as a reference to China, Jaishankar also flagged concerned over “weaponisation” of economic activity and how access to raw materials or even stability of tourism are being utilised to exert political pressure.
“A different dimension of the concerns that we harbour is one emanating from a combination of excessive market shares, financial domination and technology tracking,” he said.
“Between them, they have actually allowed for the weaponisation of virtually any form of economic activity. We have seen how both exports and imports, access to raw materials or even stability of tourism has been utilized to exert political pressure,” he said.
“At the same time, the power of currency and the threat of sanctions have been deployed in the toolbox of international diplomacy,” he said.
The external affairs minister highlighted challenges of uncertain logistics and supply chains.
“Quite apart from these conscious efforts, there have been collateral consequences of hard currency shortages and uncertain logistics. All these are driving countries to re-look at the working of globalization and devise their own solutions,” he said.
“This includes exploring new partners, it includes creating shorter supply chains, building inventories and even devising new payment arrangements. Each of these has some consequence for us,” he added.
The external affairs minister said the government is focusing on economic growth and stronger manufacturing besides making efforts to accelerate the flow of requisite capital, technology and best practices.
“Our export promotion efforts, already yielding results, will intensify across the world. The use of credit lines and grants to familiarize the world with our products and capabilities will also deepen,” he said.
Jaishankar said there is the larger branding endeavour of the attractions of today’s India that will make a case to the world of the benefits of partnership.
The current times call for something more than business as usual because trust and reliability have become so important, he said.
“We must recognize that our economic priorities will have to align with our strategic interests, whether we are speaking of market access, investments, technologies, or even education and tourism. This will be even more so as ‘Make in India’ gathers more steam in domains like defence, semiconductors and digital,” he said.
“An economy with India’s prospects also has to look at accessing global resources more seriously if we are to fuel our growth,” Jaishankar said.
“For long, we have looked at Russia from a political or security perspective. As that country turns eastwards, fresh economic opportunities are presenting themselves,” he said.
Jaishankar said the world is today “paradoxically rebuilding” itself even as it is being disrupted.
“As new production and consumption centres emerged in the last few decades, there is an accompanying compulsion to create commensurate logistical corridors,” he said.
