'Need To Get Over West Is The Bad Guy Syndrome': Jaishankar Says 'World Is More Complicated'

S Jaishankar said the West was not the 'bad guy' as it was not flooding Asian and African markets with goods on a massive scale.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Source : PTI

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the West was not the "bad guy" as it was not flooding Asian and African markets with goods on a massive scale and that there was a need to get over the "syndrome" of seeing it in a negative way. In an interview to Malayalam news channel Asianet, the minister said that the world is more complicated and the problems are much more complicated than that. Jaishankar also stated that he was not batting for the West. 

"It is not the West which is flooding Asia and Africa with goods on a massive scale. I think we need to get over the syndrome of the past that the West is the bad guy and on the other side are the developing countries. The world is more complicated, the problems are much more complicated than that," the minister said, as quoted by PTI.

The minister said the issue today was the building up of a strong sense, over the last 15-20 years, over the inequities of globalisation where countries saw their products, manufacturing and employment come under stress due to their markets being flooded by cheap goods.

He said this underlying resentment and pain of those countries regarding the global economy was building up for the last 15-20 years and the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict resulted in prices of energy and food items going up. So there was a sense of anger building up in countries about them being used as an extractive resource to fuel the economy of another nation and added that the West was not to be blamed for that. The External Minister was in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the launch of the PM Vishwakarma scheme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the 'PM Vishwakarma' scheme for artisans, craftsmen, and those engaged in tradtional skills on the occasion of 'Vishwakarma Jayanti'. The scheme, fully funded by the Union government with with an outlay of Rupees 13,000 crore, was first announced by Modi on Independence Day. He also launched 18 post tickets and the Toolkit Booklet as he inaugurated the scheme. 

On being asked whether Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend the G20 summit because it did not want India to be seen as leader of the Global South, Jaishankar said the reasons were up for speculation. He  said that in today's globalisation there was a concentration of manufacturing that was being leveraged and subsidised and was affecting economies of various nations.

However, India's manufacturing, agriculture, scientific achievement like the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ability to vaccinate, etc all of that has created a sense among the Global South, which includes the African Union, "that one of us has the ability to stand, grow and progress". "So they identify with us in a way that they do not with other people," Jaishankar said, as quoted by PTI.

By Bringing 125 Nations Together, India Straightaway Shaped The Agenda: Jaishankar On G20 Summit

During the interview, Jaishankar also spoke about the G20 Summit under the Indian presidency. The minister said that by bringing 125 nations together, we straightaway shaped the agenda. "By doing the Voice of the Global South (summit) and bringing 125 nations together, we straightaway shaped the agenda," he said, as quoted by PTI.

Jaishankar said that the Global South was not a new world order or a definition and India was not claiming to be its leader. He said India was a different country now with a different level of confidence and a different leadership and the way G20 was conducted has benefited the nation.

He further stated that the summit showed that the agenda "does not have to be decided by the West or by the P5 or by a narrow one or two countries" and that India too can shape it. "My most truthful answer is that the Global South is not a definition, but a feeling. It is a feeling of solidarity, a willingness to put yourself out," he said. He added that "those who are part of it know it and those who are not also know it".

Highlighting major achievemenrs of the G20 Summit, Jaishankar said that India was able to get the influential group of nations back on the track of growth and development and also focus on the Global South initiative. He also spoke about the threat posed by the political space given by Canada to the Khalistan group. 

In addition to that, the country was also able to do diplomacy in a different way and through the summit created a greater interest in the nation about the Baltic, he said. "My most truthful answer is that the Global South is not a definition, but a feeling. It is a feeling of solidarity, a willingness to put yourself out," he said, adding that "those who are part of it know it and those who are not also know it," the External Affairs Minister said, as quoted by PTI.  He also welcomed the proposed economic corridor with India at one end and Europe at the other and which passes through the Middle East making it easier for people from here to go there for job opportunities.