S Jaishankar's tough stance on Europe

"No, India is not sitting on the fence." Watch Jaishankar sharply criticise Europe's outlook towards Asia while defending India's foreign policy...

Transcript

00:00Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems.

00:07But the world's problems are not Europe's problems. The world cannot be that Eurocentric

00:13as it used to be in the past. Look, I don't think we're sitting on the fence just because I don't

00:17agree with you. One of the foremost geopolitical strategists on Wall Street sent me this question

00:23for you. And the question is simple. If and when the choice comes down to it, not today,

00:28not tomorrow, but in the future, and she strongly believes it will, for India, will it become in

00:34terms of support the US or China? And that will be kind of a defining moment that comes out of

00:41the situation that we face with Russia right now. You know why I wanted to interrupt you in a way.

00:48I mean, I'm partly reacting to the previous observation. You know, somewhere Europe has

00:54to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems. But the world's problems

01:02are not Europe's problems. That if it is you, it's yours. If it is me, it's ours. I think that's

01:10something. And I see, you know, reflections of that. Again, in terms of, you know, there is a

01:18linkage today which is being made, you know, a linkage between China and India and what's

01:24happening in Ukraine. So come on, guys. I mean, China and India happened way before anything

01:29happened in Ukraine. And I just see this as frankly a not very clever argument, a very self-serving one.

01:38And this idea that, you know, your grand strategy must be about how you will choose.

01:45I will do what as all of us do. I will weigh the situation, you know, like everybody after all,

01:52how do countries eventually make decisions? There will always be two axes at this point. I think

01:59it's an understood, accepted fact that you have the West, U.S. led, you have China as the next

02:05potential axis. Where does India fit into this? Are you planning to not? No, I'm sorry. That is

02:11exactly where I disagree with you. This is, this is the construct you are trying to impose on me.

02:16And I don't accept it. I mean, I don't feel, I don't think it's necessary for me to join this

02:22axis or not. And if I'm not joining this, I must be with the other one. I don't accept that. I mean,

02:28I think I am one fifth of the world's population. I am what today the fifth or sixth largest economy

02:35in the world. I mean, forget the history, civilization bit, everybody knows that.

02:42But I think I'm entitled to have my own side. I'm entitled to weigh my own interests,

02:46make my own choices. And my choices will not be cynical and transactional, but they will be

02:53a balance of my values and my interests. There is no country in the world which disregards its

03:00interests. If you want to talk about one fifth of the world's population, you cannot also sit on

03:06the fence when it comes to foreign policy matters. Non-alignment isn't plausible if you want to take

03:13your position on the world stage. What does it look like with three years of your government

03:17left approximately? Of this term? Of two years, actually. Oh, two years. Thank you for the

03:24correction. Or even in the next decade or so. What is India's position? Sitting on the fence is not

03:29an option to be a world leader. Look, I don't think we're sitting on the fence just because

03:33I don't agree with you. Doesn't make me sitting on the fence. It means I'm sitting on my ground.

03:38You take any and all of the big challenges of the world, some part of the answer either comes out of

03:45India, can be contributed to India. And again, I hate to say, you know, it's a bit like a broken

03:51record. But look, a lot of things are happening outside Europe. The world is changing. New

03:59players are coming. New capabilities are coming. But a new agenda must come. The world cannot be

04:05that Eurocentric as it used to be in the past.