Europe has to grow out of mindset that its problems are world’s problems: Jaishankar

“There is a linkage today which is being made. A linkage between China and India and what’s happening in Ukraine. So, come on guys, I mean China and India happened way before anything happened in Ukraine. So the Chinese don’t need a precedent somewhere else in the world on how to engage us or not engage us or be difficult with us or not be difficult with us. I don’t see this frankly as a very clever argument, a very self-serving one,” he said.

He was responding to a question on whether India will be in a position to reach out for support if there are further skirmishes along its border with China. Last Tuesday, holding talks on the border standoff after a gap of six months, India and China decided to continue the discussions through diplomatic and military channels.

“We have a difficult relationship with China. We are perfectly capable of managing it. If I get global understanding and support, obviously it is of help to me. But this idea that I do a transaction, that I come in one conflict because it will help me in conflict two, that’s not how the world works. So, a lot of our problems with China have nothing to do with Ukraine, have nothing to do with Russia, they are predated. And if we are getting into who is silent on what issue at what point of time, I could point to a whole lot of issues on which, as I said, Europe has held its peace,” he said.

Maintaining that India’s position on Ukraine has been “mischaracterised”, Jaishankar held out New Delhi’s statement condemning the killings in the Ukrainian city of Bucha as an example. India had “unequivocally condemned” the killings and also supported calls for an “independent probe” into the incident following global outrage.

Underlining that the “world cannot be that Eurocentric that it used to be in the past,” Jaishankar said, “If I were to take Europe collectively, which has been singularly silent on many things which were happening, for example in Asia, you could ask why would anybody in Asia trust Europe on anything at all.”

Jaishankar’s latest statements are in sync with his recent comments, as he has been very sharp in his comments on Europe in the last few months.

In April this year, in candid responses to questions from European ministers and leaders at the Raisina dialogue on the crisis arising out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Jaishankar had pointed to the challenges in Asia and India’s neighbourhood — in Afghanistan and from China — and said it was a “wake-up call” for Europe to look at these instances where the problems are happening.

In Washington DC earlier in April, on the issue of oil purchases, Jaishankar had said India’s total purchases for the month would be “less than what Europe does in an afternoon”.

In March, with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss listening, Jaishankar had addressed the issue of sanctions as he had said that “it looks like a campaign” and said that Europe is buying more oil from Russia than before and majority of the buyers of Russian oil and gas are from European countries.

Rejecting suggestions that India is a “fence-sitter” on global issues, Jaishankar said on Friday he does not necessarily believe that India has to choose between the two axes represented by the US-Europe and China-Russia. “Look, they are not exclusionary but we are a democracy. We are a market economy. We are a pluralistic society. We have laws and contracts, we have positions on international law and I think that should give you a fair part of the answer.”

“The fact that today you have a grouping like the Quad where very important decisions were made on connectivity, on telecommunications, supply chains, cyber security and maritime domain awareness, it should tell you which direction we are going. Do not use a caricature version of one situation as a yardstick to pass a sweeping judgment,” Jaishankar said.

On India acting as a possible conduit for sale of Russian oil to other countries, he said, “There’s an enormous shortage of oil, there’s a physical shortage of oil, getting access to oil is difficult. A country like India would be crazy to get oil from somebody and sell it to somebody else. This is nonsense.” He also rejected reports that India was allowing “trans-shipment of oil”.