The world needs US-China relations at the “right temperature”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday, arguing that emerging and middle powers must build flexible partnerships to protect their interests in an increasingly competitive global order.
Speaking at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi, Jaishankar linked that strategic challenge to a wider agenda: stronger India-Europe ties, resilient supply chains, cooperation in defence and space, and artificial intelligence that serves public needs.
His starting point was a world being reshaped by Washington’s choices and Beijing’s rise.
“The landscape today is primarily marked by a radical repositioning of the United States,” he said, describing it as a “posture of choice” through which America had “deliberately become a lonelier power”.
China’s growing influence was the second defining feature. The resulting competition, he argued, extended well beyond the two countries and had encouraged governments to weaponise whatever advantages they possessed.
Jaishankar used the idea of a “Goldilocks scenario” to describe the balance other countries would seek in US-China relations.
Source: openthemagazine.com
