The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: External affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, has said the world is “badly in need of some form of re-globalisation”, adding that India would only add a non-Western layer to the existing world architecture, PTI reported.
However, he clarified that India aims to reorder the world not with a “pull down the pillars” approach, but with a reformist mindset. “So, I make this very important distinction where India’s concerned: India is non-Western, India is not anti-Western,” The Hindu quoted Jaishankar as saying.
The external affairs minister was speaking at Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington DC, on Friday, September 29, on the topic of ‘India’s Role in a New Pacific Order’.
While stating that New Delhi’s aim is to be reformist rather than revisionist, he noted that India has played a huge role in “reforming” the World Bank to enable it to respond to the climate change challenge and to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He said India’s role would be to make global institutions “fit-for-purpose”.
On globalisation, he said, “It has tremendous benefits. Nobody doubts. But this particular model of globalisation has evolved over the last 25 years. Obviously, it has a lot of risks inherent, and today how to address those risks and create a safer world is part of the challenge.”
According to Jaishankar, India’s presence and activities have gone up significantly on the east, “into the Pacific and beyond”. That India is contributing more to a Pacific order, he said, reflects the rebalancing that is currently underway.
“A rebalancing in which the changed capabilities, positioning, and attitudes of the United States is the central driving factor,” he explained. “But also one in which the rise of China and its implications is obviously a very, very crucial issue.”
On the question of the India-US relationship, he said while both of them have been “dealing” with each other for decades, it is only in the last few years that they have been truly “working” with one another.
On the India-Canada diplomatic standoff, Jaishankar confirmed that the issue came up during his talks with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken. “Yes, I did.” The US side shared its assessments on this whole situation and he explained to the Americans a summary of India’s concerns, he noted. “I think hopefully we both came out better informed,” Jaishankar said.