External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar enunciated that in a “multipolar” world where change has been stretching the fabric of the global order, the key to the future of Asia as well as the world lies in the relationship between India and China. During his opening address at the Asia Society at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York on Tuesday, Jaishankar said Asia is at the “cutting edge of change” and that India is the part leading that change.
“Asia is very much at the cutting edge of that change. Within Asia, India is part of leading that change. But that change is today stretching the fabric of the global order…I think the India-China relationship is key to the future of Asia. In a way, you can say if the world is to be multipolar, Asia has to be multipolar. And therefore, this relationship will influence not just the future of Asia but, in that way, perhaps the future of the world as well,” he said.
He further said that India has to prepare to rise amid volatility and unpredictability.
“India, which is rising, has to prepare to rise amidst volatility and unpredictability. Typically, when countries rise, when big powers rise, they hope for congenial circumstances,” he added
In his address, Jaishankar picked three words to describe the changing world.
He said that to describe the world, the word “rebalancing” was an obvious choice and said that Asia played a key role in that process.
“Now when I speak about rebalancing, I think Asia has been very much key to that rebalancing when we talk. If one looks, for example, at the last top 20 economies of the world, there are many more Asian economies in that than there were a few decades ago. And even if one looks among the 20, the Asian ones have really risen much more strongly and impactfully.
-TIN Bureau