External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar advised the European countries on the new world order, the Ukraine war, and the Chinese challenge and apprised that they need a wake-up call to understand the shaking up of international order, reported Die Presse.
In an interview with the Austrian publication, he said, " Europeans needed a wake-up call to understand that the difficult aspects of life are not always taken care of by others, adding, no region will be stable if dominated by a single power."
He said that during the 2008 financial crisis, Europe took a defensive stance toward the world.
"Above all, Europe wanted to develop within its own space and to keep international problems as far away as possible. Europe focused on trade, emphasized multilateralism and used its economic influence to shape the world on its own terms on issues such as climate change and human rights. Europe tended not to want to be involved in tough security issues," said Jaishankar.
Speaking about the plate tectonic shift in the world power structure, Jaishankar gave the example of the US and said that despite all the differences, former US Presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump both agreed that the US can no longer play the same role in the world stage as it once did and must withdraw.
"We are already living in dangerous times. This transition to the new world order will take a long time. Because change is big. The Americans were the quickest to realize that they had to reposition themselves and seek cooperation with countries like us," said the EAM.
However, Jaishankar said that Europeans realized that the world order changing before the Ukraine conflict.
"This realization began even before the Ukraine conflict. When the Europeans started talking about an Indo-Pacific strategy, it was clear to me that they no longer wanted to be just spectators on developments in other parts of the world," said Jaishankar to Die Presse.
He said that the world order is still Western and it needs to be replaced by a world of "multi-alignment" where countries will choose their own "particular policies and preferences and interests."
Giving an example of India, Jaishankar said that New Delhi rejected American and European pressure at the United Nations to condemn the Russian invasion, turned Moscow into its largest oil supplier and dismissed the perceived hypocrisy of the West since the Russia-Ukraine war which began on February 24.
"I would still like to see a more rules-based world. But when people start pressing you in the name of a rules-based order to give up, to compromise on what are very deep interests, at that stage I'm afraid it's important to contest that and, if necessary, to call it out," said Jaishankar.
He also said that this war has provoked moral outrage in the West over Russian atrocities, adding that Western sanctions against Russia have driven up energy, food and fertilizer costs, causing acute economic difficulties in poorer countries.
Taking a jab at Europe on the import of Russian oil, he said, "Europe has imported six times the fossil fuel energy from Russia that India has done and that if a USD 60,000-per-capita society feels it needs to look after itself, and I accept that as legitimate, they should not expect a USD 2,000-per-capita society to take a hit."
Jaishankar further reiterated that India is in no mood to cut ties with Russia, adding that Moscow supported New Delhi with weapons over decades of non-alignment, while the United States cosseted India's archenemy, Pakistan.
Meanwhile, speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's words that today's era is not of war he called for both countries to resolve their differences at the negotiation table through dialogue and diplomacy.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
