Politics

EAM Jaishankar tells Europe to look beyond Ukraine; ‘Afghanistan was thrown under the bus’

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar panned Europe for questioning India’s Russia-Ukraine policy

April 27, 2022

Ukraine war ‘wake-up’ call for Europe to look at developments in Asia

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday countered criticism of India’s position on Ukraine, saying the Western powers have been oblivious to the pressing challenges facing Asia including last year’s events in Afghanistan and the continuous pressure on the rules-based order in the region.

S Jaishankar was speaking at an interactive session at the Raisina Dialogue. The Raisina Dialogue was attended by several European leaders. Jaishankar said the crisis in Ukraine could be a “wake-up call” for Europe to also look at what has been happening in Asia, saying it has not been an “easy part” of the world for the last 10 years.

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar panned Europe for questioning India’s Russia-Ukraine policy as he reminded the Europeans that they were not actually bending over backward to address India’s concerns when the rules-based order was under threat in Asia or when, as he said, the civil society in Afghanistan was thrown under the bus.

Without naming China, he made it obvious that Europe had been insensitive in the past to security threats emanating from China’s conduct in Asia, including on the border issue with India as he said this was a region where boundaries have not been settled.

“There are equally pressing issues in other parts of the world like Afghanistan and challenges in Asia… when rules-based order was under threat in Asia, the advice we got from Europe was to do more trade. At least we are not giving you that advice. On Afghanistan, please tell me which part of the rules-based order justifies what the world did there,’’ said Jaishankar, as he made the point that no country wanted to see the practical consequences of the conflict like higher energy prices, food inflation, and other disruptions. He said there will be no winner in this conflict.

“Our position is, that we all have to find some way of returning to diplomacy and dialogue, and to do that the fighting must stop. I think that is really the focus of what we’re trying to do,” EAM Jaishankar said.

The pushback against Europe, for its indifference in the past to Chinese expansionism, on Tuesday was perhaps more significant though as it came in response to questions by at least 2 European foreign ministers – from Norway and Luxembourg.

“Let’s see this in the right context. We all need to find some way of returning to diplomacy and dialogue and to do that the fighting must stop. That’s what we are trying to do,’’ said the minister further.

“There has been a lot of arguments from Europe saying things are happening in Europe and Asia should be worried about it because these could happen in Asia. Guess what, things have been happening in Asia for the past 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it. This could be a wake-up call for Europe not just in Europe but a wake-up call to also look at Asia. This is where boundaries have not been settled, where terrorism is still practiced and often sponsored by states… rules-based order here has been under continuous threat. It’s not that the problems are going to happen, the problems have been happening for 10 years,’’ said the minister, as he spoke about India and other countries looking to find the right “balance of interests’’.

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