External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Tuesday sought to remind Europe that China is a bigger threat facing the world today, as opposed to the deepening Russia-Ukraine crisis, reports Asian Lite News
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Tuesday sought to remind Europe that China is a bigger threat facing the world today, as opposed to the deepening Russia-Ukraine crisis, at the first-ever gathering of the European Union along with the Indo-Pacific countries.
The gathering — Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific — being held in Paris Tuesday, saw participation of the foreign ministers of EU member states and about 30 countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including India, as the crisis between Russia and Ukraine grows bigger.
“This initiative in the midst of a serious crisis in your own region reflects the importance that you attach to Europe’s engagement with the Indo Pacific region… The Indo-Pacific is at the heart of the multipolarity and rebalancing that characterises contemporary changes,” Jaishankar said in his opening remarks at the forum, which is being chaired jointly by Josep Borrell Fontelles, EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Without taking a clear stand on the emerging crisis in Ukraine, Jaishankar said, “It is essential that greater power and stronger capabilities lead to responsibility and restraint. This means, above all, respect for international law, territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
“It means economics free of coercion and politics free from the threat or the use of force. It means observing global norms and practices. And refraining from making claims on the global commons,” he added.
Without taking China’s name, but obviously referring to the Asian superpower, the external affairs minister said in Paris, “Today, we see challenges on that score with the clarity that proximity brings. And believe me, distance is no insulation,” adding that the “issues we confront in the Indo-Pacific will extend beyond, even to Europe”.
Welcoming the EU’s decision to strengthen maritime security, Jaishankar said, “Our collective efforts can keep the oceans peaceful, open and secure, and, at the same time, contribute to conserve its resources and keep it clean.”
Urging greater integration of European countries with the Indo-Pacific region, French Foreign Minister Le Drian said, “the Indo-Pacific is today an area with huge challenges, particularly given the rise of Chinese domination”.
The European Union released its own Indo-Pacific strategy in September 2021, while the countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands came out with their individual policies prior to that in 2020.
According to Borrell, the Indo-Pacific will continue to remain a top priority for the EU, given that 70 per cent trade of the region takes place through the sea routes of the Indo-Pacific.
The situation in Ukraine has its roots in the post-Soviet politics, the expansion of NATO and the dynamics between Russia and Europe, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday, amid escalating tension between Moscow and the West after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway Ukrainian regions as independent states.
In an interactive session at a think-tank in Paris, he said the world today is in the midst of “multiple crises” and these developments have generated new challenges to the international order.
Separately in an interview published in French daily Le Figaro on Monday, Jaishankar said that the situation in Ukraine is the result of a complex chain of circumstances over the last 30 years and most countries are seeking a diplomatic solution.
“The situation in Ukraine is the result of a complex chain of circumstances over the last thirty years. Most countries, such as India and France, which is very active, are seeking a diplomatic solution,” he said.
“The real question is: are you mobilised to find a good solution or are you content with posturing? India can talk with Russia, with other countries, within the UN security council and support initiatives like those of France,” Jaishankar said when asked why India has not condemned the concentration of Russian troops on the Ukrainian borders.
The Ukraine crisis deepened further after Russian President Putin announced recognising two breakaway regions of Ukraine as independent states.
In his address at the French Institute of International Relations, Jaishankar extensively delved into fast-expanding Indo-French ties and said India looks at France as a “trusted” partner in countering myriad security challenges from the seabed to space and from cyber to oceans.
“I can assert with genuine confidence that it (Indo-French ties) is the strongest now since our journey as an independent nation began 75 years ago,” he said.
“Through the tumult of our times, India’s relations with France have continued to move forward on a steady and clear course. It is a relationship that is free from sudden shifts and surprises that we sometimes see in other cases,” Jaishankar added.
The external affairs minister said there is a great trust and sense of confidence in the relationship in India He also referred to France showing an understanding of India’s “strategic compulsions” after its nuclear tests in 1998.
“French support played an important role in India getting an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008 to resume international cooperation in civil nuclear energy,” he added.
Asked to compare the Ukraine crisis with the situation in Taiwan, Jaishankar said different problems have different histories, different contexts and players and transposing issues of one theatre to another can be misleading.
“Both are products of very complex histories of that particular region. In the case of Ukraine, a lot of it derives from the post-Soviet politics, the expansion of NATO, the dynamics between Russia and Europe, and Russia and the West broadly,” he said.
“I think, in the case of Taiwan, it is a product of what happened in Chinese history and what happened the way the Cold war and other developments played out in Asia,” he said.