'Terrorism Began Consuming Those Who Practised It,' EAM Jaishankar Says, Responds To US Sanction Warning

Jaishankar discussed the Ukraine conflict, violence in West Asia, the logistical disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions, sanctions, drone attacks in the Red Sea, and climate events during the CII event.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed on Friday that Asia is experiencing new tensions on land and at sea due to dishonoured agreements and disregard for the rule of law, with terrorism now affecting those who previously supported it. His comments surfaced amidst China's continued military posturing along the eastern Ladakh frontier and Pakistan's support for cross-border terrorism.

Speaking at a CII event, Jaishankar also addressed the influence of currency and the threat of sanctions in global diplomacy, over the recent US warning of punitive measures after India's agreement with Iran on the Chabahar port, news agency PTI reported.

"The world is experiencing a 3F crisis of fuel, food and fertilisers. In Asia, new tensions have emerged in land and sea as agreements are dishonoured and rule of law disregarded," Jaishankar said, as quoted by PTI.

"Terrorism and extremism have started to consume those who have long practised it. In many ways, we are actually going through the perfect storm," he added.

Jaishankar also discussed the broader impacts of the Ukraine conflict, escalating violence in West Asia. He also highlighted the logistical disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions, sanctions, drone attacks in the Red Sea, and climate events. He noted that the world is facing a crisis involving fuel, food, and fertilizers.

"For India, the task is to mitigate its impact on itself and contribute to stabilising the world to the extent possible. It is this judicious combination of 'Bharat First' and 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' that defines our image as 'Vishwa Bandhu'," he added.

Threat Of Sanctions Deployed In Toolbox Of International Diplomacy: Jaishankar 

While giving reference to China, Jaishankar also highlighted concern over the "weaponisation" of economic activity and how access to raw materials or tourism's stability is being employed to exert political pressure.

"A different dimension of the concerns that we harbour emanates from a combination of excessive market shares, financial domination, and technology tracking," he stated. "Between them, they have allowed for the weaponisation of virtually any form of economic activity. We have seen how both exports and imports, access to raw materials or even stability of tourism has been utilised to exert political pressure," he outlined, as per PTI.

"At the same time, the power of currency and the threat of sanctions have been deployed in the toolbox of international diplomacy," he further added. The external affairs minister underscored the challenges of undetermined logistics and supply chains.

"Quite apart from these conscious efforts, there have been collateral consequences of hard currency shortages and uncertain logistics. All these are driving countries to re-look at the working of globalisation and devise their own solutions," Jaishankar said. "This includes exploring new partners, it includes creating shorter supply chains, building inventories and even devising new payment arrangements. Each of these has some consequence for us," he added.

According to the Minister of External Affairs, the government is working to speed up the flow of necessary capital, technology, and best practices while also prioritizing economic growth and more robust manufacturing.

"Our export promotion efforts, already yielding results, will intensify across the world. The use of credit lines and grants to familiarise the world with our products and capabilities will also deepen," he said.

Jaishankar stated that there is a larger branding venture of the attractions of today's India that will make a case to the world for the advantages of partnership. The current times demand more than just conducting business as usual because dependability and trustworthiness are now so crucial, he added.

"We must recognise that our economic priorities will have to align with our strategic interests, whether we are speaking of market access, investments, technologies, or even education and tourism. This will be even more so as 'Make in India' gathers more steam in domains like defence, semiconductors and digital," the EAM said.

He underlined that if we are to robust our growth, an economy with India's prospects also has to look at accessing global resources more seriously. "For long, we have looked at Russia from a political or security perspective. As that country turns eastwards, fresh economic opportunities are presenting themselves," he stated.

Jaishankar expressed that today the world is "paradoxically rebuilding" itself even as it is being disrupted.

"As new production and consumption centres emerged in the last few decades, there is an accompanying compulsion to create commensurate logistical corridors," he mentioned.