Jaishankar slams China for not respecting India's territorial sovereignty

Looming global crisis a phase of opportunity for emerging powers to assume leadership roles

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for Chinese restraint in the Asia Pacific region and asked Bejing to show sensitivity and respect for New Delhi’s core concerns and interests, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Wednesday said the growth in China’s power and its implications for Asia was a challenge and something that is difficult to predict. He criticised India's largest neighbour for not honouring concerns over territorial integrity while building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The CPEC passes through the Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan region, on which India has territorial claims.

Speaking on the second day of the Raisina Dialogue, an international conference on geopolitics jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation, or ORF, the Indian Foreign Secretary termed it an “absurdity” that the UN has failed to reform. He said the multilateral agency, being 70-years-old, was due for retirement and the myriad global challenges would require a credible multilateral response. 

The foreign secretary said the global politics and economics was in a period of recalculation and recalibration. He said India was well placed in the scenario, and certainly no worse than many others. Jaishankar said that the looming global crisis was likely to be the phase of opportunity for emerging powers, such as India. He drew a parallel with the 2008 financial crisis that offered India a greater say and helped it increase its footprint.

On China ignoring India’s concerns, the foreign secretary pointed to the CPEC, which passed through a territory that India sees as its own. He said that China is sensitive on matters that concern its territorial sovereignty, and New Delhi expects them to respect the sovereignty of others as well. Jaishankar said that while New Delhi expects Beijing to understand and reflect on its views on the issue, unfortunately there are no signs of it.

The foreign secretary said that with China, the overall broadening of ties, especially in business and people-to-people contacts, has been overshadowed by differences on certain political issues. “But it is important for the two countries not to lose sight of the strategic nature of their engagement, or falter in their conviction that their rise can be mutually supportive,” he said.

On India’s growing ties with the US, Jaishankar said: “We established early contact with the Trump transition team and see a strong convergence of interests and concerns.” He added an improvement in US-Russia ties will not be against Indian interests. 

On a moribund South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Jaishankar blamed the regional forum’s ineffectiveness due to the “insecurity of one member” (Pakistan). He said India has tried to partially remedy this through the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) sub-regional grouping. “It is also our expectation that the current level of enthusiasm among members of BIMSTEC can be channelled towards more far-reaching initiatives,” he said, suggesting BIMSTEC could become a rival to SAARC.

The foreign secretary also commented on how the voices of interdependence and globalisation have become more muted in the western world, while Asia remains optimistic about its future. “Globalisation has not stopped – indeed cannot stop, just because someone somewhere has called ‘time out’,” he said.

The foreign secretary seemed to suggest that the current crisis might just be good for India, just as the 2008 financial crisis laid the basis for a more multipolar world. “Ironically, while the Western-led G8 gave way to the more representative G20, the more diverse UNSC remained as resistant to change as before,” Jaishankar said. India has for over a decade demanded UNSC reforms.

He said that the redistribution of power that happened in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis “extended beyond symbolisms to developments on the ground. They opened up spaces for economic activity and political collaboration that were not there earlier.” Jaishankar said that for emerging powers the period from 2008 onwards has been one of opportunity. 

“A country like India, for example, has not only loomed larger in the consciousness of more distant regions. It has actually broadened its footprint and intensified its investment, trade and technical activities in an unprecedented manner,” he said. 

Jaishankar asserted that the current situation, unlike 2008, wasn’t “a looming crisis but a deep dissatisfaction that pervades many developed societies.” He underlined that in the case of the United States, maintaining its global standing while simultaneously rebuilding its economy are the declared goals.

“But this time around, unlike 2009, it is sought to be achieved in a very different manner. This promises some upheaval in relations among states. While every country has some stake in the stability and the contribution of the United States, many would also watch these changes with anxiety. One thing is clear; few of us will be unaffected,” Jaishankar said.

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