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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday highlighted how global politics is undergoing a major shift, noting that countries today are hedging between the US and China while India builds new trade partnerships and connectivity networks to navigate this changing landscape and expand its influence.
Speaking after receiving an Honorary Doctorate at IIM Calcutta, Jaishankar said the world has entered a phase where political considerations increasingly outweigh economic ones, with decisions shaped by concerns over ownership and security. Globalisation still exists, he said, but powerful counterforces are now at work.
“The United States, long the underwriter of the contemporary system, has set radically new terms of engagement. Not just that, it is doing so by dealing with countries on a one-on-one basis rather than through regimes. China has long played by its own rules and is now doing so even more. In the ensuing scenario, other nations are unclear on whether their attention should be on the visible competition or the trade-offs and understandings that punctuate it,” he said.
Jaishankar added that much of the world is responding to the pressures of globalisation by hedging in every direction. “Even as it engages the United States and China directly, choices are avoided where feasible and choices are made when beneficial. Simultaneously, other options between themselves are explored with greater urgency,” he said.
‘World not what it was before’
Discussing broader geopolitical trends, Jaishankar noted: “Europe and Asia are reassessing their respective strategic predicaments. The very landscape of the Middle East has undergone a transformation. The importance of partnering Africa’s growth is more widely recognised, and all distances become less relevant. New opportunities are more visualised in Latin America.”
Stressing that the world has changed dramatically over the past decade, he said: “A third of global production currently takes place in China. This has put the spotlight on the resilience and reliability of supply chains. Conflicts and climate events have added to the possibility of their disruption.”
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View AllHe further pointed out shifting global energy dynamics: the US has moved from being a major importer to a significant exporter of fossil fuels, while China now dominates the renewable energy sector. Supply-side risks, he said, are now compounded by demand-side uncertainty.
Jaishankar also observed that tariffs have intensified market volatility, while the heavy use of sanctions, the seizure of assets, and the growing influence of blockchain-based technologies are now part of the “new realities” shaping global trade.
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