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Jaishankar said that if people are complaining of trade deficit with China and “we are too”, it is because decades ago, “we consciously overlooked the nature of Chinese production and the advantages which they enjoyed in a system where they got a level playing field with all the advantages they brought to bed”.
“China in many ways is a unique problem because it is a unique polity, it is a unique economy. Unless one tries to grasp that uniqueness and understand it, the judgements, the conclusions and the policy prescriptions flowing out of it can be problematic,” he said at the ET World Leaders Forum here during a session titled ‘New India’s Risks, Reforms and Responsibilities’.
“There is a general China problem. We are not the only country in the world which is having a debate about China. Go to Europe, and ask them what is among their major economic or national security debates today. It is about China. Look at the United States (of America). It is obsessed with China, and rightly so in many ways,” Jaishankar said.
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“India has a China problem… a special China problem that is over and above the world’s general China problem,” Jaishankar said.
“When we look at trade with China, investments with China, exchanges of various kinds with China. If you neglect to take into account that this is a very different country with a very different way of working, I think your basics start to go off track,” he said.
“Once you understand that because there is a general problem with China as well as our own situation, all of you know we have a very difficult situation at the border for the last four years. I think the sensible response to it is to take the precautions that a country like India is taking,” the minister said.
It has never been the government’s position that it should not be having investments with China or doing business with China, he stressed.
“On the investments issue, it is common sense that investments from China would be scrutinised, I think the border and state of relations between India and China call for it,” Jaishankar said.
But countries that do not have a border with China are also scrutinising investments from the country, he added.
“Europe does not have a border, America doesn’t have a border with China and yet they are doing that. The issue is not do you have investments with China or not, it is not a yes or no answer, it is what should be the appropriate level of scrutiny and how should you handle it,” the minister said.
“Sometimes when I read stuff where people write that we should clearly identify that this as national security, it doesn’t work that way anymore because what is national security has expanded. If your telecom is based on Chinese technology, can you be impervious to it,” he asked.
“In my view, at a certain level, with certain countries in certain situations, the line between economics and security is a very thin line,” Jaishankar said.
During the session, he also noted that there is a major war in Europe, a huge conflict in the Middle East, there are tensions in Asia and the revival of territorial claims and border frictions with each one of them mounts risks, he said.
The focus of the world is on de-risking, Jaishankar asserted.
The external affairs minister highlighted that every government is now closely evaluating geopolitical risks, with the majority of efforts focused on de-risking.
He emphasized that in the current global landscape, managing and mitigating risks has become a central concern in shaping international relations and policies.