Jaishankar says India tries to 'ensure ties' across the world, but not with...

Foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar highlighted India's relations with the world as he said that the nation is trying to ensure that all ties advance without seeking exclusivity and each engagement has its own particular significance, weight and focus — be with the United States, Europe, Russia or Japan. However, he said that China falls into a different category.

"For the first time in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi articulated a comprehensive view that spanned the entirety of the Indian Ocean and its Islands. These subsequently became the building blocks for the Indo-Pacific vision that emerged thereafter," Jaishankar said while speaking at the MIREX, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic.

"To the north, India has been similarly pursuing a strategy of connecting to Central Asia more effectively and this has taken the form of structured engagements across multiple domains," added Jaishankar, who was on a visit to the Dominican Republic from 27-29 April.

"These concentric circles of priority give you a conceptual sense of Indian diplomacy and one that we have pursued very assiduously over the last decade. But at a higher level, we are also practising the approach of engaging all significant centres of power, such multi-alignment reflects the reality of multipolarity," he added.

Without the mention of China, he said that "whether it is the United States, Europe, Russia or Japan, we are trying to ensure that all ties, all these ties advance without seeking exclusivity" but China falls into a different category, because of the boundary dispute and the currently abnormal nature of our ties.

Making India's stand clear about China's activities at the Line of Actual Control, Mr Jaishankar said that is "an outcome of a violation of agreements regarding border management by them".

The foreign minister also pointed out China`s activities at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and made India's stand clear. He said that what the other nation is doing is "an outcome of a violation of agreements regarding border management by them". He added, "The rise of China and India in a parallel time frame is also not without its competitive aspects."

India has seen a dramatic expansion in connectivity, contacts, in cooperation across the region.

"The exception to this of course is Pakistan in view of the cross-border terrorism that it supports. But whether it is the Covid challenge or more recent debt pressures, India has always stepped up for its neighbours," Mr Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar also talked about neighbouring nations to India's growth. He said that India's size and economic strength are for the collective benefit that India takes a generous and non-reciprocal approach to cooperation with smaller neighbours.

But also admitted that "the exception to this of course is Pakistan in view of the cross-border terrorism that it supports. But whether it is the Covid challenge or more recent debt pressures, India has always stepped up for its neighbours".

(With inputs from agencies)

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