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Address by External Affairs Minister on
the occasion of National launch of Global India Foundation - “India
and the Global Balance of Power”
It is with a feeling of expectation and pleasure
that I am here today to participate in the national launch of the
Global India Foundation, an initiative which is conceptualized and
premised on promoting national resilience, economic prosperity and
liberal values and the principal of social commitment in national
life. That the Foundation would exemplify these values in its policies,
priorities and programmes is important in today’s age of globalization,
closer interaction between Governments and non-government bodies
and institutions. The inputs that we receive from such initiatives
to complement those taken by official and government channels are
welcome.
2. Think tanks for policy formulation
draw upon experience of specialists from diverse fields
and provide for long-term perspective planning and research.
It is with such expectation that I endorse the objectives
and scope of the Global India Foundation and it is my hope
that the Foundation will undertake activities ranging from
analytical research to informal bridge-building among diverse
views as well as provide a platform for informal debate.
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3. Friends, the international
landscape today is significantly different from what existed even
15 years ago. How do we look at India’s vision for the future?
Our foreign policy since the time of independence has essentially
been to expand India’s strategic space. Our policy of non-alignment
is our ability to judge and to act on our own judgment on the basis
of enlightened self-interest. We do not wish to be passive observers
and recipients of the actions of others, but would like to be one
of the powers contributing to the shape of a global order which
emerges and which allows us to pursue our vital interests. It also
encompasses the policy of nurturing and increasing our activism
in traditional constituencies in the developing world.
4. As we approach the sixtieth
anniversary of our independence, India’s international prospects
have never looked better. The new optimism about India’s future,
within the nation and the wider world, is not necessarily an irrational
exuberance. It is based on sustained high economic growth rates
that have touched eight per cent and more per annum in recent years.
It recognises that for the first time in the last sixty years, India’s
relations with all the major powers are improving simultaneously.
Our engagement with our extended neighbourhood -- from South East
Asia to Southern Africa -- has become at once intense and broad
ranging. India’s ties with countries as far apart as Latin
America and East Asia are rapidly expanding. Our relations with
our neighbours, including China and Pakistan, are poised for a positive
transformation.
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5. Today I wish to share with you my assessment
of the international situation and the many foreign policy
opportunities that beckon India. Any survey of the global
situation today must deal with a simple fact. More than sixty
years after the Second World War, the structure of international
power bears no resemblance to that which obtained amidst the
Yalta settlement. The defeated powers, Germany and Japan,
which had to accept many imposed conditions on them are today
fully integrated into the international system. The once warring
European states have integrated themselves into an economically
powerful Union. The victorious powers of the Second World
War, America and Russia, which went through a Cold War for
40 years, now confront a vastly altered global landscape,
which has multiple power centres. |
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6. Much of the developing world
has liberated itself from colonial rule and imperial oppression.
Many developing nations have turned in an impressive economic performance
in the last few decades. And some of them, especially China and
India, are now poised to break the old paradigms that animated us
so much in the past: developed versus developing countries, North
versus the South, and East versus the West. The new wave of globalisation
has begun to accelerate the redistribution of power in the international
system. The unfolding rise of China and India has resulted in more
than a resurgence of Asia. The consequences of rapid growth in China
and India are being felt in Africa and Latin America.
7. Yet, the global institutions
-- for the maintenance of international peace and security and the
promotion of economic prosperity -- designed at the end of the Second
World War continue to dominate our thinking. Resistance to change
is natural in all institutions. But change is inevitable. In the
current debate on reforming the United Nations, India has repeatedly
underlined the urgency of restructuring global institutions -- both
political and economic -- to reflect the new power realities on
the ground. The potential for failed states, terrorism and religious
extremism, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction demand
a new global consensus on a number of issues. These include when
and where to use force against new security threats, the norms for
international legitimacy, and the relationship between national
sovereignty and external intervention. For now, there is no international
agreement on the very definition of new threats, let alone on the
means to deal with them.
8. Where does India stand in the
unfolding global order? And what should be our foreign policy priorities
in a world that is changing in so many different ways? The biggest
challenge for our foreign policy, however, lies in changing our
own mindsets. The Indian strategic community must come to terms
with our increasing weight in the international system. Today’s
India is not a bystander to the actions of other powers. The choices
India makes today have the potential to change outcomes on issues
ranging from global environment to multiple balances.
9. From a practical reading of
the current world situation, it is not impossible to see that balance
of power politics of the kind seen in 19th century Europe makes
little sense in today’s globalising world. Today, there is
unprecedented engagement and cooperation among major powers. The
prospect of a war -- either cold or hot -- between the great powers
is rather remote. Their economies are ever more intertwined and
there is unprecedented political cooperation among great powers
that were once rivals.
10. What the world needs, then,
is not old style balance of power but a well-crafted system to promote
a “balance of interests” among the major powers. No
structure of international security will endure if it does not take
into account the interests of all the major powers. That is also
true of regional security arrangements. To be credible, such a structure
must also ensure a balance of interest among states in different
regions. Above all, amidst the breakdown of traditional territorial
barriers and the growing impact of the information revolution, diplomacy
is no longer limited to states. To be successful in the modern age,
we need a balanced approach to the interests of the rich and poor,
privileged and under-privileged cutting across national boundaries.
11. In our immediate neighbourhood,
Indian policy has often been misconstrued as a search for hegemony.
We have also often been accused of treating South Asia as an Indian
sphere of influence. India’s primacy in South Asia is based
on demography and geography. We have borders with all the other
South Asian countries, while only Pakistan and Afghanistan among
the SAARC states share a frontier with each other. That reality
will not change. India’s commitment to develop political relations
with its South Asian neighbours on the basis of sovereign equality
and mutual respect is underlined by our recent decision to upgrade
the 1949 friendship treaty with Bhutan and our willingness to review
the 1950 treaty with Nepal. Amidst the increasing globalisation
of South Asian economies and polities, there is no question of India
pursuing the outdated idea of an exclusive sphere of influence.
India’s strong support to the entry of China and Japan into
the SAARC as observers underlines India’s commitment to open
regionalism in the Subcontinent.
12. The real opportunity in South
Asia today is the prospect for shared prosperity between India and
her neighbours. For too long we in South Asia had little to share
but poverty. Today, amidst high growth rates across the Subcontinent,
we are in a position to advance together through free trade, open
borders, and regional economic integration. Trans-border transport
and energy corridors would not only link the Subcontinent within
itself but also with the abutting regions of South East Asia, Central
Asia and the Persian Gulf. On its part, India is determined to open
its markets to the neighbours. India is conscious that no South
Asian nation can succeed on its own. We must create a stake for
every nation in the economic success of the other. As we prepare
to host the next SAARC summit in New Delhi, India will take the
initiative in accelerating regional economic and political cooperation.
We will also play a positive role in the deepening Asian economic
integration as well as the establishment of new trans-border transport
networks and energy pipelines with our eastern neighbours. In this
context, the “Look East” policy has become central to
our new strategy to intensify the development of our North Eastern
region.
13. We hope to replicate our success
in the east with a similar diplomatic thrust towards our western
neighbours. Developing liberal trading regimes, better connectivity
and economic integration with our north-western neighbours, Pakistan
and Afghanistan, Central Asia, West Asia, and Africa are now high
priorities for my government. Africa has always enjoyed a special
place in our foreign policy since independence. India is determined
to become a long-term partner in African growth and is ready to
contribute to more enduring capacity building on the continent.
14. As West Asia confronts dangerous
turbulence and political fragmentation, India is prepared to contribute
fully to the peaceful resolution of various conflicts in the region.
Finding a balance between divergent interests of regional forces
has become more urgent than ever in West Asia. We know from our
own experience that stability and prosperity to our west accelerates
our own economic growth. India has a long record of contributing
to peacekeeping missions in this region. We would like to build
on this record and help structure a cooperative security order with
our many friends and partners in this region.
15. The end of the Cold War has
liberated India to simultaneously deepen our relations with all
the major power centres. We are no longer bound by the Cold War
paradigm where good relations with one power automatically entailed
negative consequences with its rivals. No great power today pursues
exclusive cooperation with others. Nor is any one great power asking
us to limit ties with others. India has learnt that increased cooperation
with one power opens the doors further with others. For the first
time in India’s independent history, it is now on an upward
spiral of improving relations with all the great powers. For all
the gains we have made in recent years, our relations with the U.S.,
China, Russia, Japan, and Europe are all way below their full potential.
It is our task in the coming years to deepen cooperation with them
all. We will endeavour to inject real political content into the
strategic partnerships that we now have with all the major powers.
16. As a confluence of many civilisations,
it is only natural that India has consistently rejected the notion
of a “clash of civilisations”. Unfortunately, the idea
of a “civilisational war” has, however, gained some
salience in recent years. India, on its part, is ready to join the
various international efforts to promote a more intensive engagement
among different civil societies, religions and civilisations. Located
at the cross-roads of different civilisations, India has for centuries
been home to many religions and cultures. We are ready to share
our experience with others to promote diversity and tolerance in
the world.
17. We are in the middle of an
extraordinary technological revolution that promises to radically
improve the human condition and accelerate the redistribution of
power among states. States that are capable of adapting to the new
technological revolution and are in a position to contribute to
the new knowledge economy will prosper in the new age. India, with
its favourable demographic profile and recognised strengths in the
emerging knowledge industries, must take full advantage of the new
opportunities to reposition itself in the global order. Our efforts,
impressive as they have been so far, have run into a whole range
of high technology sanctions imposed on India collectively by the
advanced countries since the mid 1970s. Removing these restrictions,
set up in the name of non-proliferation, and the associated “catch-all”
provisions barring the sale of most advanced technologies in the
areas of space, computing, communication, etc., has been a major
objective of Indian foreign policy for decades. Success is finally
at hand with the on-going implementation of our nuclear agreement
with the United States signed in July 2005. We are now on the verge
of liberating ourselves from this high technology blockade. The
prolonged scientific isolation coupled with political scare-mongering
has whipped up much confusion on the provisions of the Indo-U.S.
nuclear deal. The initiative of the U.S., backed by other major
powers including Russia, France, Great Britain, as well as our partners
in the developing world, including Brazil and South Africa, acknowledges
the importance of resuming civilian nuclear cooperation with India
and the centrality of India in the construction of a credible non-proliferation
system. Our track record on this issue has been accepted and vindicated.
18. As the world comes to terms
with a rising India, we must, in turn, bear the burdens that come
with being an important power. I would like to assure this august
gathering that our government will not fall short of the expectations
from our own nation as well as the world. Whether it is in addressing
the new global challenges -- from trade to environment to international
security -- or in the new regional opportunities for peace and prosperity,
India is ready to fulfill its obligations.
Jai Hind
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