The international community sees India’s growth over the last few decades but the country’s strategic and economic vulnerabilities have simultaneously become exposed on the global stage, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has said at the NDTV World Summit.
And by allowing itself to become very friendly with certain nations, India may have lost the trust of certain other countries in the international arena, Tharoor said. “We have many frustrations with China for good reason. He cited the decision by US President Donald Trump to suddenly impose 50 per cent tariffs last year as an example of such diplomatic unpredictability.
In response to a question on where India stands diplomatically as global events threaten to change the world order, he said the rest of the world wants to engage with India. “I think what’s working well for us is that we are recognised for all that we’ve grown to be in the last few decades,” Tharoor said. But India’s larger global profile has coincided with the exposure of some weaknesses, Tharoor, who is the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, said. “What is not working so well is that our vulnerabilities have also become exposed in the process,” he said, citing India’s relationship with China as a “classic instance”. The way in which China has behaved on our borders, the way in which they’ve nibbled away at our territory and their overt support for Pakistan during the brief conflict between our two countries last year,” Tharoor said.
