External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced policy reforms that signify the end of the Cold War and the new global balance and said the former PM sought a way with China that would be based on mutual respect. as mutual interest.
Jaishankar also said that the winds of change are most pronounced in the Indo-Pacific and it is there that the diplomatic creativity that inspired Vajpayee should be applied most strongly.
“We are looking at a complex set of changes that are going on simultaneously. The Indo-Pacific is witnessing both multipolarity and rebalancing,” he said in his opening remarks at the second Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture, which was held at the Lowy Institute in Australia. by Michael Fullilove, Executive Director.
“The Indo-Pacific is witnessing moderate power plus activities alongside great power competition, and conservative politics, including regional differences, along with currencies of power such as connectivity and technology,” Jaishankar said. In fact, no other scenario better illustrates the expansion of our definition of national security.
Talking about Vajpayee, Jaishankar said, “If we look at the essence of his approach to international relations, it is clear that it focuses on responding effectively to global changes.”
“Where the United States was concerned, Vajpayee introduced policy reforms that marked the end of the Cold War and the new global balance. At the same time, he kept India’s course against Russia steady despite the turmoil of that era. With China, whether as foreign minister or as prime minister, he sought a way that was based on mutual respect and based on mutual interest,” Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar said, “Vajpayee, along with Pakistan, tried hard to get him out of his way of sponsoring cross-border terrorism.”
“All this, of course, was based on his belief that India must develop deep strength at home. It found expression in the exercise of the nuclear option, as it did in Economic Modernization, which he presided over,” said the foreign minister.
In his lecture on “Australia, India and the Indo-Pacific: the need for strategic imagination”, Fullilove compared diplomacy to cricket, saying that the game of cricket is in many ways similar to the great game of relations between states.
“Like foreign policy, cricket is a long game. A Test match can take up to five days… In cricket, things are as opaque as it is in diplomacy. Sometimes a draw can be a win. Cricket and foreign policy require many similar qualities including intelligence, skill, patience, discipline, rigor and imagination,” he said.
“The bilateral relations between New Delhi and Canberra have the character of a long innings, we started slowly but now we have settled into it, we are taking our shots and the runs are flowing,” Fullilove said.
He also suggested the establishment of a high level economic dialogue between Australia and India.
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