External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the direction of India’s rise is clear and will be determined by the country’s own strength.
“The rise of India will be determined by India. It will be determined by our strength, not by the mistakes of others,” Jaishankar told the audience on the last day of this year’s Raisina Dialogue, the annual international security conference organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
Jaishankar’s remarks came two days after US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said at the same conference that while the United States would like to partner India in its rise, Washington would not make “the same mistakes” with India as it had with China two decades ago by aiding its economic rise.
India–US relations had been strained after US President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on India last year. Bilateral ties have since moved closer to normalcy earlier this year, with a trade deal currently under discussion. However, comments made during the Raisina Dialogue suggest that differences persist between the two countries.
Speaking at a session on the future of the Indian Ocean region, Jaishankar noted that the Indian Ocean is the only ocean named after a country.
“The Indian Ocean is the only ocean to be named after a country because we are right in the middle of it,” he said, adding that the rest of the region could view India’s rise as “a lifting tide”.
“I am not saying there are no challenges to India’s rise. But the direction of India’s rise is very clear,” he added.
Jaishankar also said India had acted “out of humanity” in allowing an Iranian naval ship to dock in Kochi, Kerala, after the conflict in West Asia involving the United States, Israel and Iran began.
Another Iranian naval ship, IRIS Dena, which was near Sri Lanka at the time, sank after it was hit by a US Navy torpedo. Dozens of Iranians on board were reportedly killed.
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