External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Friday acknowledged that India’s relationships with its neighbours are not easy to manage, given this country’s history and the size and sociology of the neighbouring nations.
”There will be political ups and downs in many of our neighbours and often rousing sentiments about India is a very easy way out. These are realities we have to accept. But we also need to appreciate that today we have more resources, more capabilities whenever we are challenged,” he said delivering the 7th Jasjit Singh Memorial Lecture here.
Dr Jaishankar noted that there have been occasions in some of the neighbouring nations when India has become a political issue. ”And if you look at the extent of proofing, I would actually suggest that we have done some good work there, that we have actually managed to mitigate some very sharp situations,” he added.
The minister said India has shown that it has the ability to stand up, to push its interest and to compete against other countries. Often, India has outsourced and outperformed others.
On the India-US relationship, he said, “To me, the US relationship, more than any other relationship, is a testimony to the changing world. We have issues, we have divergences, but we are consistently beating market expectations because the market is consistently behind us as far as this relationship is concerned.”
Dr Jaishankar agreed that there is scope to increase bilateral trade with Japan. ”Our target is five trillion Yen by 2027. We are halfway to the target. With the change in geo-economics, we have to work harder with Japan. The strategic people in Japan also understand that they have to work with India and that our interests are very similar,” he added.
He was of the view that the role of rising nationalism in shaping world affairs must be recognised. ”In those parts of the world where the old globalisation mantra still prevails, nationalism is a bad word. But the truth is that they do reflect the frustration in many developed societies where the quality of life has been eroded by bad geo-political and geo-economic choices. Like it or not, the world will be significantly more nationalistic in the foreseeable future,” he said.
In this context, he said it is imperative that India clinically evaluates global happenings and calculates its benefits. ”Often what is good for us is also good for the world. That happens partly from the tight connection that we have nurtured with the Global South and the confidence that they repose in us.”