India's Top Diplomat: We Get Along with All Major Powers -- Except China

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the country’s top diplomat, celebrated India’s friendly relationships with all major powers in an interview Tuesday – markedly omitting China and emphasizing that tension between the two countries is growing because China has repeatedly violated India’s border.

“India’s relationship with major powers is good. China is an exception,” Jaishankar told India’s Asian News International (ANI), “because it violated agreements that we’ve had and has a posture at the border and, as a result, we have a counter posture.”

India and China are engaging in growing competition over international manufacturing, particularly in technology and pharmaceuticals, and are vying for the support of critical allies, most prominently Russia. Caretaking of their mutual border, however, has become the most inflammatory facet of the countries’ relationship, however, in the past three years as China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) increased the frequency of illicit appearances on Indian land.

Disagreements over where the border, which India calls the “Line of Actual Control” (LAC), actually is have led to deadly military engagements, the worst of them being the June 2020 battle in the Galwan Valley, in the Ladakh region of India. The Galwan Valley melee resulted in at least 20 Indian soldier deaths and, according to Indian officials, over twice as many dead Chinese soldiers. China insists to this day that it only lost four troops.

The most recent similar event occurred in Arunachal Pradesh, India, in December, when Indian border patrol spotted Chinese soldiers in the wrong country. The incident did not result in any deaths, but dozens of injuries, and involved hundreds of troops beating each other with sticks, rocks, and other rudimentary weapons.

Indian officials have increased the military presence on the border in the past year to what they claim to be “unprecedented” levels and dismissed the PLA as a “prehistoric” band of “hooligans” for attacking with clubs and other blunt objects.

In his remarks to ANI on Tuesday, Jaishankar’s aside on the abysmal state of ties to China stood out in what were otherwise chipper comments praising his prime minister, Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi, and his alleged success in elevating the geopolitical profile of their country.

“Overall India’s relationship with major powers is good. Relationship with Europe is the best ever we had,” Jaishankar said. “Our relationship with Russia has been extraordinarily steady and it has been steady through all the turbulence in global politics.”

“Today, India’s global standing is clearly very much higher and quite strong. We’ve been able to demonstrate to the world that we are an exceptional international power,” Jaishankar insisted. “We have been able to very clearly demonstrate to the world that we are exceptional international power, meaning we are willing to do things for others, perhaps more than most of the countries are at this point of time.”

India’s relations Russia have become increasingly important to the former’s economy following the announcement last year of Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine, a full-scale invasion to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trade between India and Russia hit all-time highs at the end of 2022, largely on the back of major Indian purchases of Russian oil and coal. European nations supporting Ukraine have condemned India for its ongoing business with Russia, particularly in the fields of energy and defense, but Modi’s government has rejected all criticism, highlighting Europe’s own dependence on Russian natural gas.

“Look, I don’t want to sound argumentative,” Jaishankar said in June, responding to European condemnation of India purchases from Russia. “If India buying Russian oil is funding the war — tell me, then, is buying Russian gas not funding the war?”

“It’s only Indian money and Russian oil coming to India funding the war, and not Russia’s gas coming to Europe, not funding? Let’s be a little more even-handed,” he insisted.

Jaishankar has also spearheaded Indian public efforts to reject pressure from America and Europe to stop buying Russian military technology, insisting that India has an extended tradition of buying Soviet and Russian weapons because America and the West rejected selling its own gear to New Delhi.

“We have, as you know, a substantial inventory of Soviet and Russian-origin weapons, and that inventory actually grew for a variety of reasons,” Jaishankar said in October. “You know, the merits of the weapon systems themselves, but also because for multiple decades, Western countries did not supply weapons to India, and in fact saw a military dictatorship next to us [Pakistan] as the preferred partner.”

In response to Indian complaints, France, in particular, has expressed a growing willingness to sell India military gear. India and France organized joint military exercises in January and French officials suggested Paris could soon sell India fighter jets.

“I must stress that no other country is so committed to making available to Indian forces the best technology, without restrictions,” French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain said at the time, “and to such a level to not only meet ‘Make in India,’ but also to go forward to co-develop and co-produce equipment.”

“Make in India” is Modi’s program to expand manufacturing in the country, through both domestic products and inviting multinational corporations to relocate from countries like China to India.