NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday emphasized the importance of adopting a “realistic approach” in dealing with China and criticized the “romanticism” displayed by India during the Nehruvian era.
Drawing a sharp contrast, Jaishankar suggested that while India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru leaned towards an idealistic friendship with China, the then home minister Sardar Patel advocated a realist approach mindful of India’s interests and global dynamics.
In an interview with ANI, Jaishankar said that the Narendra Modi government aligns closely with the realism espoused by Sardar Patel as opposed to the idealism and romanticisim shown by Nehru.
“I argue for dealing with China from a basis of realism — that strain of realism, which I feel — strains all the way from Sardar Patel to Narendra Modi — that is the strain of realism which I feel should allow us to have a certain approach,” the minister said.
The foreign minister further highlighted the fundamental difference between the approach advocated by India’s first PM and deputy PM.
“It takes two hands to clap. I pose the issue in this manner if you look at the last 75 plus years of our foreign policy, they have a strain of realism about China and have a strain of idealism, romanticism, non-realism. It begins right from Day one, there is a sharp difference of opinion — how to respond to China between Nehru and Sardar Patel,” said Jaishankar while responding to a question on whether the two nations will bury the hatchet in 2024.
He added: ” … when it came, for example to the UN Security Council seat, it’s not my case that we should have necessarily taken the seat, it’s a different debate, but to say that we should first let China – China’s interest should come first, it’s a very peculiar statement to make”.
In the early days of Nehru’s leadership, India-China relations were marked by perceived warmth and cooperation, but the 1962 war served as a stark wake-up call, prompting a reassessment of India’s China policy.
Speaking about the “Chindia policy”, Jaishankar said that the alternative strain started from Nehru’s China’s first policy — first let China take seat, then we will see for India.
“From China’s first policy, it ends up as Chindia policy,” he added.
Jaishankar said that the development of India-China relations is guided by three mutuals of “respect, sensitivity, and interest”.
Ties between India and China have remained frosty since May 2020 when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) amassed troops in eastern Ladakh that led to a deadly clash between the two militaries at the Galwan Valley in June 2020, resulting in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese military personnel.
Amid the prevailing tensions, the two countries held 20 rounds of Corps Commanders level talks besides the diplomatic channel called Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) and completed disengagement from five areas.
Talks, however, are deadlocked over disengagement in the Depsang and Demchok areas as the Chinese argue that they are legacy issues that happened well before May 2020.
(With inputs from ANI)
Drawing a sharp contrast, Jaishankar suggested that while India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru leaned towards an idealistic friendship with China, the then home minister Sardar Patel advocated a realist approach mindful of India’s interests and global dynamics.
In an interview with ANI, Jaishankar said that the Narendra Modi government aligns closely with the realism espoused by Sardar Patel as opposed to the idealism and romanticisim shown by Nehru.
“I argue for dealing with China from a basis of realism — that strain of realism, which I feel — strains all the way from Sardar Patel to Narendra Modi — that is the strain of realism which I feel should allow us to have a certain approach,” the minister said.
The foreign minister further highlighted the fundamental difference between the approach advocated by India’s first PM and deputy PM.
“It takes two hands to clap. I pose the issue in this manner if you look at the last 75 plus years of our foreign policy, they have a strain of realism about China and have a strain of idealism, romanticism, non-realism. It begins right from Day one, there is a sharp difference of opinion — how to respond to China between Nehru and Sardar Patel,” said Jaishankar while responding to a question on whether the two nations will bury the hatchet in 2024.
He added: ” … when it came, for example to the UN Security Council seat, it’s not my case that we should have necessarily taken the seat, it’s a different debate, but to say that we should first let China – China’s interest should come first, it’s a very peculiar statement to make”.
In the early days of Nehru’s leadership, India-China relations were marked by perceived warmth and cooperation, but the 1962 war served as a stark wake-up call, prompting a reassessment of India’s China policy.
Speaking about the “Chindia policy”, Jaishankar said that the alternative strain started from Nehru’s China’s first policy — first let China take seat, then we will see for India.
“From China’s first policy, it ends up as Chindia policy,” he added.
Jaishankar said that the development of India-China relations is guided by three mutuals of “respect, sensitivity, and interest”.
Ties between India and China have remained frosty since May 2020 when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) amassed troops in eastern Ladakh that led to a deadly clash between the two militaries at the Galwan Valley in June 2020, resulting in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese military personnel.
Amid the prevailing tensions, the two countries held 20 rounds of Corps Commanders level talks besides the diplomatic channel called Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) and completed disengagement from five areas.
Talks, however, are deadlocked over disengagement in the Depsang and Demchok areas as the Chinese argue that they are legacy issues that happened well before May 2020.
(With inputs from ANI)
