India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has commented that the United States has “deliberately become a lonelier power” and while many other changes to the international order are reshaping the world, the key one is the rapidly evolving Indo Pacific posture in India’s case, Chinese presence.
At the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi, Jaishankar observed that the global landscape was changing and witnessing a “radical restructuring” of the US, and the emerging and middle powers were seeking increased autonomy and rethinking their relationships with the international community.
Jaishankar On Changing US Posture
The change in the US stance had been a “posture of choice” and made Washington more isolated in the new geopolitical context, said Jaishankar.
Countries that are not part of the big powers are becoming more interested in their own interests and they wish to balance their ties, minimize risk and build up their home capacities, he told the audience.
Here emerging and middle powers are also looking at their role-play in areas of engagement with larger powers besides simply leaning over on the other side (Jaishankar).
China’s Economic Rise And Global Influence
The second big change in the international scenario that Jaishankar noted was the rise of China.The second big sea change that Jaishankar mentioned in the changing international scenario is “the rise of China”.
Referring to China’s economic power, he said it represents about 1/3 of world production and its economic power is increasingly being translated into political power.
The world is seeing more bitterness between the two giants, U.S. and China, he said. But he said that the dynamics of this competition hit too hard on two nations.
Countries “have adopted whatever economic, political or strategic means they have in their armoury as a means of competing in the international arena”, Jaishankar said.
Middle Powers Seek More Strategic Flexibility
The U.S.-China rivalry must run alongside the “messy interdependence of the world,” Jaishankar said. This has been inspiring the emerging and middle powers to strive for more flexibility in international relations.
Countries are seeing the need to diversify and build their independence and de-risking from major powers in their country-building strategy,” he said.
As you are all aware, international politics are changing and unfolding regardless, competition between Washington and Beijing is now playing out, in the midst of countries looking to put their own interests first in strategy and economy.