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US choosing to be a 'lonelier power'; China rising on world stage: S Jaishankar
In his address, the minister also laid out a road map for India’s economic growth, touched upon AI’s use and the FTA with the EU.
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External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Sunday highlighted the changing dynamics of global geopolitics, which he said were marked by the US “deliberately becoming a lonelier power” and China rising on the world stage, as he stressed the need for middle powers to deepen cooperation and push for self-reliance.
He added that competition between nations, not limited to the US and China, has led to a “weaponisation of any leverage” that a country has.
“…The landscape today is primarily marked by a radical repositioning of the United States. A repositioning, which is a posture of choice, and, in a way, it has deliberately become a lonelier power. The second feature of the landscape is, of course, the rise of China,” he said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi.
He added: “That competition today, not limited to these two countries, has led to a weaponisation of any leverage that any country has. And that competition coexists with the complexity of interdependence.”
His comments come against the backdrop of escalating conflicts — from the Russia- Ukraine war to the West Asia crisis — as countries navigate security concerns and economic ramifications linked to these standoffs.
In his address, the minister also laid out a road map for India’s economic growth, touched upon AI’s use and said the FTA with the EU will have “cascading impact” on overall relations.
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Jaishankar emphasised that emerging and middle powers were reassessing their roles, and instead of seeking strict alignment or waiting for full ideological consensus, they were focusing on self-reliance, a concept central to India’s own “Aatmanirbhar” vision. During the Brics summit, PM Narendra Modi had said that the grouping must chart the course of global reform to ensure that the Global South has a greater say in decision-making and the existing “pyramid of privilege” in global governance makes way for a “platform of partnership”.
“What unites the emerging and middle powers, is a growing self-awareness of their interest. All of them, in a way, are becoming more self-reliant,” Jaishankar said. “It’s a term, ‘Atmanirbhar’, very much in vogue in India as well. Many of them today are driven by this calculation,” he added.
He emphasised that middle powers were increasingly focusing on strategic hedging and pragmatic partnerships. “In many ways, they are working out new arrangements. They are developing agenda-based cooperation.”
Stating that India is poised for decades of high economic growth, Jaishankar outlined a forward-looking trajectory for the country’s global standing, highlighting India’s human-centric vision for artificial intelligence.
“People perceive AI also as something which must become accessible, affordable, and used for a certain socio-economic purpose...,” he said. Highlighting the potential of a trade deal, Jaishankar argued that an FTA with the EU would catalyse alignment across the board. Commerce ministry officials last month told HT that India has secured favourable deals in advance for its steel, fisheries and shipping sectors from the EU as the two sides looked on course to sign the “mother of all FTAs” by December and operationalise it early next year.
Indo-Pacific in focus
Separately on Sunday, Jaishankar held talks with Commander of US Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel J Paparo, with a focus on boosting bilateral maritime security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
(With inputs from agencies)
