EXTERNAL Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S. Jaishankar pushed himself to the centrestage of the diplomatic discourse when he insisted that India has a ‘special China problem’ over and above the general problem the world has with Beijing. This statement is bound to linger in international thought-process for quite some time since it proposes an altogether different China proposition and perception. Dr. Jaishankar suggests, in a way, a special approach India must take and is taking to deal with China. The difference, however, is -- as per the EAM -- that many nations of the world are anxious and stretched by their ties with China; but India moves on steadily, from episode to episode but tied by a common thread of long-term consideration.

 

This Indian approach is certainly not a yesterday’s invention. Yet, the manner in which Dr. Jaishankar dissects the components of India’s China policy explains with greater accuracy even the unspoken aspects of the approach. At a recent media event, even as he insisted that the era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan was over since that country has created a dirty track record for itself, Dr. Jaishankar uses an altogether different language while touching upon the Indian relation s with China -- thus recognising that China has a special place and space in the overall diplomatic considerations. However, what needs to be noticed -- which the world also has been doing for some time -- is the tone of confidence that peeps out of the Indian approach towards handling issues with China. This is certainly not only at a platonic level, so to say. This is a practical aspect of India’s diplomacy in recent years -- which is certainly way different from the Indian handling of China problem previously.

 

The difference is how India looks at China now and how it did earlier. Today, the Indian confidence stems from its greater willingness to engage China even militarily, no matter the cost and price, in protection of the strongly-held national and geographical positions. All this can be discerned from Dr. Jaishankar’s statements not just at the recent media event but also elsewhere. As Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi made those two historic trips -- to Poland and thence to Ukraine -- Dr. Jaishankar was by his side to craft a more stable approach to the bilateral dialogue with global multilateralism in the background. As Mr. Narendra Modi emerges as possibly the best global peace-negotiator, Dr. Jaishankar’s explanations of nuances and metaphors of Indian diplomacy make a greater sense.

 

For, those assertions highlight how India looks at itself and the world in the rapidly-evolving diplomatic arena and equations. Judged from that perspective, Dr. Jaishankar’s statement gets explained better that India has a ‘special China problem’ that is over and above the world’s general China problem. In other words, Dr. Jaishankar insists that India would deal with China from its own national-interest perspective rather than follow the dictum of fashionable international trend in diplomacy. This is what India has been doing assiduously for the past ten years in particular after Mr. Narendra Modi emerged as the national leader -- in its dealings with China, Pakistan, United States, Russia, Ukraine ... ! So, even if the world has a hackneyed way of looking at China, India follows its own perception and puts its own signature on the bilateral and multilateral process that may not resonate well with the fashionable trend. This is certainly a path of courage. But then, that is the way Indian diplomacy has shaped itself in recent years -- beyond rhetoric.