February 17-18 was an eventful weekend for India as its foreign policy acumen was displayed by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday and earned heaps of praises from the Prime Minister at the National Convention of the BJP on Sunday.
EAM S Jaishankar on 17th February reaffirmed India’s stand and commitment to buy Russian oil despite respective sanctions on Moscow amid the military conflict with Ukraine, saying it should not be a problem for others.
In response to a query on how New Delhi was balancing its growing bilateral ties with Washington while continuing to trade with Moscow, the EAM’s confident and witty response turned all heads.
“Is that a problem, why should that be a problem? If I am smart enough to have multiple options, you should be admiring me. Is that a problem for others? I don’t think so, suddenly in this case. We try to explain what are the different pulls and pressures that countries have. it’s very hard to have that unidimensional relationship,” Jaishankar said.
He added, “Different countries and different relationships have different histories. If I want to look at the US and Germany, it is rooted. There is an alliance, nature to it. There is a certain history on which that relationship is grounded. In our case it’s very different, so I don’t want you to even inadvertently give the impression that we are purely unsentimentally transactional. We are not, we get along with people, we believe in things, we share things, and we agree on some things but there are time when you are located in different places have different levels of development, and different experiences all of that gets into that.”
“Life is complicated, life is differentiated. and I think it’s very important today. I agree with Antony which is, good partners provide choices, smart partners take some of the choices. But sometimes, there will be choices, you say I’ll pass on that,” he stated further.
On a lighter note, EAM S Jaishankar was heard addressing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as “Tony” while the latter addressed the EAM as “Jai”.
Germany hints Western powers should acknowledge prejudice against Global South in the past
Moreover, a sense of acknowledgement of historical wrongs appeared in German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s response to a question on division between the Global South and the Western world over several issues like sanctions on Russia over war with Ukraine.
“We have to be respectful that especially within Ukraine – and I think this is the lesson we have learned, and it was very important to speak to partners like India and so many around the world – Brazil, South Africa – that obviously in this moment when we said we need the whole international security, others asked some questions, like: Where have you been when we needed you? Or asked some questions, so actually what does it mean for the future? Do you also stand with us? And this is, I would say, maybe something you in the attitude – at least from our foreign politics from Europe to say, okay, we cannot take for granted that everybody just agrees with our European or transatlantic vision,” Baerbock said.
She added that Western democracies needed to ask themselves why the Global South cannot support them. “In our national security strategy we try to do it, talking about, for example, our colonialism past. Understanding why South Africa was mentioning the whole time their ties with Russia in the Apartheid regime. And being self-critical and saying, oh, yeah, not all democracies have stood back in time at their side, and taking that as something where we said, yes, we might have made a mistake in the past,” the German Foreign Minister said.
PM Modi hails India’s successful foreign policy
Lauding how India’s foreign policy is going strong, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (18th February) said that the world is seeing how New Delhi’s relations with many countries continue to grow stronger in trade, tourism, technology and various other aspects.
In a jibe against the critical remarks over the years on experience in foreign policy, PM Modi said that when he took the oath as India’s Prime Minister, questions were raised about him not having “experience outside a state.”
While addressing the concluding day of the National Convention of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam, PM Modi said, “When I took oath in 2014, many of our critics said that what experience does Modi have outside a state. Many things were said about foreign policy.”
PM Modi’s diplomatic triumphs were widely seen, when, during the last year, he embarked on a series of diplomatic missions, fostering international collaborations, strengthening ties, and showcasing India’s commitment to global peace and development.
Not only that, as 2024 began, Prime Minister Modi made a historic visit to the UAE and Qatar as well.
“Five Arab countries gave me the highest honour of their country, this is not the honour of PM Modi but the honour of the 140 crore countrymen,” he noted.
(With agency inputs)
