NEW DELHI, Dec 27:
India embarked on a major foreign policy overdrive in 2020, bringing its vision for a rules-based Indo-Pacific as a cornerstone of its diplomacy and displaying a steely resolve to fashion a regional environment conducive to its strategic interests in the face of China’s transgression attempts in eastern Ladakh that caused the most serious damage to the bilateral relations in over four decades.
As the bitter border standoff with China forced it to recalibrate its external engagements, India mounted a diplomatic push, focusing on boosting ties with major global players like the US, Japan, the UK and France with a larger goal to increase its geo-political heft and position itself as a credible force wedded to peace, stability and international law in contrast to Beijing’s expansionist behaviour.
The ties between the two Asian powers nosedived significantly following a fierce clash in the Galwan Valley that left 20 Indian soldiers dead in mid-June. The Chinese side also suffered casualties but it is yet to give out the details. According to an American intelligence report, the number of casualties on the Chinese side was 35.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar bluntly told his Chinese counterpart that the “unprecedented development will have a serious impact on the bilateral relationship”.
Drawing a firm and clear line on its China policy, India held the neighbouring country accountable for triggering the Ladakh standoff by violating rules of engagement on border management and conveyed that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are the basis for progress of the rest of the relationship and they cannot be separated.
In the midst of the standoff that erupted in early May, Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed on a five-point pact to resolve the row at a meeting in Moscow on September 10. However, a concrete breakthrough is yet to be found to end the faceoff at the friction points.
“India’s rise will evoke its own reactions and responses. There will be attempts to dilute our influence and limit our interests. Some of this contestation can be directly in the security domain; others could be reflected in economics, connectivity and even in societal contacts,” Jaishankar said at a think-tank recently.
Outlining the broad contours of an assertive foreign policy, Jaishankar held that India’s “relationship with the world” cannot be the same as when its ranking was much lower, adding the country now matters more on key issues and its global view must process that in all its aspects.
With the region witnessing new geopolitical alignments, India too redoubled efforts to boost strategic cooperation with countries in India’s immediate neighbourhood, Gulf region, Central Asia and member nations of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) grouping. (PTI)
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