Minister, while speaking at the launch of foreign policy magazine, said policy changes should not be seen as “political attacks” on previous governments
There have been more public debates over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 2020 than before, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, defending the government on the issue of transparency in India-China relations.
The LAC agreement announced on October 21 this year, as well as the terms of the disengagement process, has led to many questions being asked, including in Parliament’s ongoing Winter Session, where Mr. Jaishankar was pointedly asked about whether India would regain the situation prior to April 2020, when Chinese PLA troops amassed troops and transgressed territory along the LAC.
Speaking at the launch of “India’s World”, a new bi-monthly Foreign Policy magazine in India, Mr. Jaishankar said that it was unfair to target the Modi government when previous governments in the past have maintained a degree of secrecy over sensitive issues.
“Look where China is concerned, it is [a relationship] where there has been much more reticence,” Mr. Jaishankar explained, speaking about several India-China agreements in the past, including the 1993 LAC agreement over Sumdorong Chu, which is still highly classified. He also referred to the 2005 decision to declare India and China “Strategic Partners” and the 2006 decision to begin talks on a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). “Was there a debate then?” asked Mr. Jaishankar, claiming that military and industry stakeholders had not been consulted for those decisions.
“When people talk about transparency, let us remember what the history is. In the last four and a half years, I have seen more debates about China than I have seen in 40 years before that,” he said in response to a question by C. Rajamohan, Strategic analyst and the Chairperson of the editorial board of the new magazine.
The inaugural edition of the magazine, edited by Happymon Jacob, Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University has focused on a “Grand Strategy for India”.
‘Confidential exercise’
Mr. Jaishankar, who had served in the Indian Foreign Service for decades prior to becoming the External Affairs Minister, also said that he had seen a number of examples where diplomacy would not have produced results if it had been discussed openly.
“You can’t conduct diplomacy by putting everything out there in the open, because then you know what could happen will never happen.” He said while he believed there was a benefit to ensuring the government’s policymakers communicate about such agreements, “the reality is that diplomacy by nature, is a confidential exercise”.
Speaking about Indian Foreign Policy, Mr. Jaishankar said that it is wrong to judge it in the context of one political dispensation over another, as changes in foreign policy are necessitated by a number of factors. He listed “four big factors” that initiated changes in India: when the Domestic economic model changed through reforms in 1991, or the change of international landscape from the bipolar cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to a unipolar U.S.-led world, and now to a multipolar world, and when globalisation changed the behaviour and relations between countries, and with the advent of newer technological tools driving policy.
“Given that all these factors are changing, how can foreign policy remain the same,” Mr. Jaishankar asked. “When we speak about changing foreign policy, if there is talk of a ‘post-Nehruvian construct’, it should not be treated as a political attack. “ “It didn’t require [PM] Narendra Modi to do it,” he added, referring to India’s economic reforms in 1991. “[PM P.V.] Narasimha Rao started it”.
When asked about India’s ties with Europe, Mr. Jaishankar said that the attitude of European countries, which had initially, in 2022, held “tricky conversations” about India’s stand on the Russian war in Ukraine, were now quite “encouraging of India trying to be helpful in some way, in regard to this conflict”, referring to Prime Minister Modi’s visits to Moscow and Kyiv, and his offer to convey messages between them.
Mr. Jaishankar was speaking to an audience of foreign policy experts and several diplomats, who attended the launch of the magazine. Significantly, the diplomats included both Russia’s Ambassador to India Denis Alipov, and Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk, who were seated in the same row, as the External Affairs Minister spoke.
More debates on China and LAC agreement post-2020 than earlier: Jaishankar defends government against charges of secrecy
Minister, while speaking at the launch of foreign policy magazine, said policy changes should not be seen as “political attacks” on previous governments
There have been more public debates over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 2020 than before, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, defending the government on the issue of transparency in India-China relations.
The LAC agreement announced on October 21 this year, as well as the terms of the disengagement process, has led to many questions being asked, including in Parliament’s ongoing Winter Session, where Mr. Jaishankar was pointedly asked about whether India would regain the situation prior to April 2020, when Chinese PLA troops amassed troops and transgressed territory along the LAC.
Speaking at the launch of “India’s World”, a new bi-monthly Foreign Policy magazine in India, Mr. Jaishankar said that it was unfair to target the Modi government when previous governments in the past have maintained a degree of secrecy over sensitive issues.
“Look where China is concerned, it is [a relationship] where there has been much more reticence,” Mr. Jaishankar explained, speaking about several India-China agreements in the past, including the 1993 LAC agreement over Sumdorong Chu, which is still highly classified. He also referred to the 2005 decision to declare India and China “Strategic Partners” and the 2006 decision to begin talks on a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). “Was there a debate then?” asked Mr. Jaishankar, claiming that military and industry stakeholders had not been consulted for those decisions.
“When people talk about transparency, let us remember what the history is. In the last four and a half years, I have seen more debates about China than I have seen in 40 years before that,” he said in response to a question by C. Rajamohan, Strategic analyst and the Chairperson of the editorial board of the new magazine.
The inaugural edition of the magazine, edited by Happymon Jacob, Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University has focused on a “Grand Strategy for India”.
‘Confidential exercise’
Mr. Jaishankar, who had served in the Indian Foreign Service for decades prior to becoming the External Affairs Minister, also said that he had seen a number of examples where diplomacy would not have produced results if it had been discussed openly.
“You can’t conduct diplomacy by putting everything out there in the open, because then you know what could happen will never happen.” He said while he believed there was a benefit to ensuring the government’s policymakers communicate about such agreements, “the reality is that diplomacy by nature, is a confidential exercise”.
Speaking about Indian Foreign Policy, Mr. Jaishankar said that it is wrong to judge it in the context of one political dispensation over another, as changes in foreign policy are necessitated by a number of factors. He listed “four big factors” that initiated changes in India: when the Domestic economic model changed through reforms in 1991, or the change of international landscape from the bipolar cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to a unipolar U.S.-led world, and now to a multipolar world, and when globalisation changed the behaviour and relations between countries, and with the advent of newer technological tools driving policy.
“Given that all these factors are changing, how can foreign policy remain the same,” Mr. Jaishankar asked. “When we speak about changing foreign policy, if there is talk of a ‘post-Nehruvian construct’, it should not be treated as a political attack. “ “It didn’t require [PM] Narendra Modi to do it,” he added, referring to India’s economic reforms in 1991. “[PM P.V.] Narasimha Rao started it”.
When asked about India’s ties with Europe, Mr. Jaishankar said that the attitude of European countries, which had initially, in 2022, held “tricky conversations” about India’s stand on the Russian war in Ukraine, were now quite “encouraging of India trying to be helpful in some way, in regard to this conflict”, referring to Prime Minister Modi’s visits to Moscow and Kyiv, and his offer to convey messages between them.
Mr. Jaishankar was speaking to an audience of foreign policy experts and several diplomats, who attended the launch of the magazine. Significantly, the diplomats included both Russia’s Ambassador to India Denis Alipov, and Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk, who were seated in the same row, as the External Affairs Minister spoke.
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