With China, PM Vajpayee Sought Modus Vivendi: S Jaishankar

Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced policy corrections that reflected the end of the Cold War and the new global balance, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday and noted that the former Prime Minister sought a modus vivendi with China that was based as much on mutual respect as on mutual interest.

Mr Jaishankar also said the winds of change are most apparent in the Indo-Pacific and it is there that the diplomatic creativity which Mr Vajpayee inspires should be most strongly applied.

"We are looking at a complex set of transformations that are simultaneously underway. The Indo-Pacific is witnessing both multipolarity and rebalancing," he said in his opening remarks at the Second Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture which was delivered by Michael Fullilove, the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute of Australia.

The Indo-Pacific is seeing great power competition as well as "middle power plus" activities, and orthodox politics including territorial differences are in sharper play, side-by-side with currencies of power like connectivity and technology, Mr Jaishankar said.

In fact, no other landscape illustrates better the widening of our definition of national security, he said.

Talking about Mr Vajpayee, Mr Jaishankar said, "If we are to look at the essence of his approach to international relations, it is evident that this focuses on responding effectively to global changes." Where the United States was concerned, former Prime Minister Vajpayee introduced policy corrections that reflected the end of the Cold War and the new global balance.

"At the same time, he kept India's course steady vis-a-vis Russia despite the turbulence of that era. With China, whether as Foreign Minister or as Prime Minister, he sought a modus vivendi that was based as much on mutual respect as on mutual interest," Mr Jaishankar said.

With Pakistan, Mr Vajpayee strenuously tried to dissuade them from their path of sponsoring cross-border terrorism, he said.  "All this, of course, was underpinned by his belief that India must develop deeper strengths at home. This found expression in the exercise of the nuclear option as it did in the economic modernisation that he presided over," the external affairs minister said.

In his lecture on "Australia, India and the Indo-Pacific: The need for strategic imagination", Mr Fullilove compared diplomacy with cricket, saying the game of cricket is in many ways similar to the great game of the relations between states.

"Like foreign policy, cricket is a long game. A Test match can take up to five days... things are opaque in cricket as in diplomacy. Sometimes a draw can be a win, cricket and foreign policy requires many of the same qualities including intelligence, skill, patience, discipline, toughness, and imagination," he said.

Mr Fullilove said wealth and power are shifting eastwards toward India and Australia.

"Impressive Asian economic growth in recent decades has transformed the region and lifted more than a billion people out of poverty. Emerging Asia is the most dynamic part of the world, accounting for more than half of global growth despite representing only a third of the global economy," he said.

"Bilateral relationship between New Delhi and Canberra has the character of a long innings, we started slowly but now that we have settled in we are taking our shots and the runs are flowing," Mr Fullilove said.

He suggested the establishment of a high-level economic dialogue between Australia and India.

The two countries should improve the interloperateability between their armed forces, Mr Fullilove said listing a slew of suggestions to strengthen the partnership.

Citing a study, he said neither the US nor China would be able to wield undisputed primacy in the Indo-Pacific region.

"A bipolar future beckons. In this future, the decisions made by other Indo-Pacific powers including Australia and India will be highly consequential. Our actions may well constitute the marginal difference," he said.

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