'The world will not serve you anything on a platter', Jaishankar on relations and competition with neighbouring countries

These days, Union External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is on a US tour. During this, he participated in a program wherein he openly spoke about India's relationship with China. He said that when it comes to China, he asks his colleagues in the ministry to prepare for competition. In other words, giving a message, Jaishankar said that the world does not serve anything to anyone on a platter.

Our relations with the neighbors have become very strong since independence. The only reason for this is that we have become very regional. Our neighbours too have their politics and there are ups and downs there too. As a big neighbor, we become part of political debate. The moment it comes to China, I tell my colleagues in the Ministry of External Affairs that get ready for some competition. The world is not going to serve you anything." Further elaborating, Jaishankar said, "We had an agreement with China upon how to maintain peace in the border, but the nation violated those agreements in 2020. We have deployed the army on the border, due to which two countries are in tension. Tension will remain as long as the deployed army remains there. If the tension goes like this, that will also affect the rest of the relations. Our relations have not been good during the last four years."

"When it comes to trade, I think China's share in manufacturing globally is 31-32 percent. Over the decades, Western countries started collaborating with China for benefits. So today, for any country if you are in any kind of manufacturing, sourcing from China is inevitable. At one level, trade with China is almost autonomous from political and other relationships," the External Affairs Minister said.