EAM Jaishankar on new world order: Europeans needed a wake-up call

Vienna: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday advised the European countries on the new world order, the Ukraine war, and the Chinese challenge and apprised that they need a wake-up call to understand the shaking up of international order, reported Die Presse.

In an interview with the Austrian publication, he said, " Europeans needed a wake-up call to understand that the difficult aspects of life are not always taken care of by others, adding, no region will be stable if dominated by a single power." He said that during the 2008 financial crisis, Europe took a defensive stance toward the world.

"Above all, Europe wanted to develop within its own space and to keep international problems as far away as possible. Europe focused on trade, emphasized multilateralism and used its economic influence to shape the world on its own terms on issues such as climate change and human rights. Europe tended not to want to be involved in tough security issues," said Jaishankar.

Speaking about the plate tectonic shift in the world power structure, Jaishankar gave the example of the US and said that despite all the differences, former US Presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump both agreed that the US can no longer play the same role in the world stage as it once did and must withdraw. "We are already living in dangerous times.

This transition to the new world order will take a long time. Because change is big. The Americans were the quickest to realize that they had to reposition themselves and seek cooperation with countries like us," said the EAM. However, Jaishankar said that Europeans realized that the world order changing before the Ukraine conflict.

"This realization began even before the Ukraine conflict. When the Europeans started talking about an Indo-Pacific strategy, it was clear to me that they no longer wanted to be just spectators on developments in other parts of the world," said Jaishankar to Die Presse. He said that the world order is still Western, and it needs to be replaced by a world of "multi-alignment" where countries will choose their own "particular policies and preferences and interests.

"Giving an example of India, Jaishankar said that New Delhi rejected American and European pressure at the United Nations to condemn the Russian invasion, turned Moscow into its largest oil supplier and dismissed the perceived hypocrisy of the West since the Russia-Ukraine war which began on February 24.