NEW DELHI: There are challenges in Asia and India’s neighbourhood — in Afghanistan and from China — said External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar at the Raisina Dialogue on Tuesday. The session was attended by various foreign ministers and leaders.
Jaishankar countered criticism of India’s position on the Russian aggression against Ukraine, saying the Western powers have been oblivious to the challenges facing Asia. “It is a wake-up call for Europe to look at these instances where problems are happening,’’ Jaishankar added.
Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anniken Huitfeldt, raised a question on how India sees its role in defending free societies globally. To this, Jaishankar said that India is in favour of the Ukraine issue getting resolved through dialogue and diplomacy and immediate cessation of violence. At the same time, he drew attention to the challenges in India’s neighbourhood.
“You talked about Ukraine... I remember less than a year ago what happened in Afghanistan, where the entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world. We, in Asia, face our own sets of challenges, which often have an impact on the rules-based order.”
Jaishankar added, “When the rules-based order was under challenge in Asia, the advice we got from Europe was 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.”
Responding to a question from former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, Jaishankar said the Ukraine crisis is a wake-up call for Europe. “It could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia. This has not been an easy part of the world for the last decade. And this is a part of the world where terrorism is still practised, often sponsored by states.”