Ukraine crisis could be wake up call for Europe to look at developments in Asia: EAM S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday countered criticism of India’s position on the Russian aggression against Ukraine, saying the Western powers have been oblivious to the pressing challenges facing Asia including last year’s events in Afghanistan and the pressure on the rules-based order in the region.
In responding to a question by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt at the Raisina Dialogue, he said the crisis in Ukraine could be a “wake up call” for Europe to also look at what was happening in Asia and reminded the West about “what happened in Afghanistan less than a year ago where an entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world”.
“When the rules-based order was under challenge in Asia, the advice we got from Europe is to do more trade. At least we are not giving you that advice,” he said. “In terms of Afghanistan, please show me which part of the rules-based order justified what the world did there,” he added.
India has not yet publicly condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine and has been calling for the resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
“Quite candidly, we have been hearing for the last two months a lot of arguments from Europe saying things are happening in Europe and Asia should worry about it because this could happen in Asia,” Jaishankar said.
“Things have been happening in Asia for the last 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it. So this could be a wake-up call for Europe not just in Europe, it could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia,” he said.
The external affairs minister was responding to a series of questions on the Ukraine crisis by his counterparts from Norway and Luxemburg as well as by former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt described the Russian aggression as an instance of an authoritarian state attacking democracy and asked how India would play its role in defending free societies.
The external affairs minister said Asia has been reeling under various challenges and it is not that problems are going to happen and that the continent has been facing the problems. “This is not been an easy part of the world for the last decade and this is a part of the world where boundaries have not been settled, where terrorism is still practiced often sponsored by states,” he said.
“This is a part of the world where the rules-based order has been under continuous stress for more than a decade and I think it is important for the rest of the world, outside Asia to recognise that today,” Jaishankar said.
In his question, Bildt asked the external affairs minister what conclusion China could draw from what’s happening in Ukraine and whether there was a possibility of Beijing seeing the possibility to do things that otherwise would not be allowed.
The Swedish leader said the conclusion that China could draw from the crisis in Ukraine could have major repercussions perhaps for India’s security.
In his response, Jaishankar said the questions should have been asked to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“I cannot honestly answer that question. But I do not think international relations necessarily function by precedence. People do not need to see something out there and say aha that’s what I am going to do,” Jaishankar responded.
“That’s how mostly bureaucracy functions. But I think world affairs has sort of a much more self-driven, self calculating way of working,” he added.
To a specific question by Huitfeldt on the situation in Ukraine, Jaishankar said India has been pressing for an urgent cessation of fighting and a return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue.
“I think where the conflict in Ukraine is concerned, we have a very clear position that has been articulated. A position which emphasises the urgent cessation of fighting, which urges a return to diplomacy and dialogue which stresses the need for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states,” he said.
The external affairs minister said that the conflict in Ukraine is the dominant issue in terms of principles and values as well as practical consequences like the spike in energy prices and food inflation in Asia and Africa.
“I would say quite honestly, all of us would like to find the right balance of our beliefs and interests, of our experience, and that is what all really try to do. It looks different in different parts of the world. The priorities are different and that is quite natural,” he added.
Jaishankar identified events in Afghanistan, the Covid-19 pandemic, the crisis in Ukraine, and big power rivalry as “major shocks” the world is witnessing and said they have global consequences.
Separately, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at the Raisina Dialogue, without directly referring to the crisis in Ukraine, that the last few weeks have demonstrated that India, as a standalone and strategically autonomous power, will act in accordance with its national interests.
“Strategic autonomy is not the same as a rigid, isolationist, ideological aversion to partnerships and alignments,” he said at a dinner reception last evening.