Surat: To compete with China on the economic front, India should focus on manufacturing, a key sector which was ignored by governments before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.
He noted that tension at the border with China has caused “abnormality” in New Delhi-Beijing relations, and added India’s thinking is absolutely clear that unless there is peace and stability in the border areas, the ties between the two Asian powers will not improve.
“If we have to compete with China, which we should, then its solution is that we should focus on manufacturing here. Our approach towards manufacturing has changed after Modiji came to power. Before that, people did not give much emphasis on manufacturing,” Jaishankar said during his interaction with industry leaders at a programme in Surat.
There is no other way to counter China on the economic front, insisted the career diplomat-turned-politician while replying to questions from audience members on how he saw India’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy as it moves towards becoming a $5 trillion economy.
Jaishankar was speaking at a corporate summit on “Bharat’s Economic Rising,” organised by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI).
“If we talk of rising Bharat, it will rise through technology. You cannot build strong technology on weak manufacturing. At any cost, we should put special emphasis on manufacturing, because that is the only economic response,” the Union minister maintained.
Jaishankar, a former Ambassador to China, emphasised that tension at the border has affected Sino-Indian ties.
“As you know, there is tension at the border (with China). And this has caused abnormality in our relations. For that our thinking is very clear that unless there is peace and stability at the border, the relations will remain in the same deteriorated condition,” he noted.
Asked about relationship with Pakistan which remains strained and New Delhi’s fight against terrorism sponsored from across the border, Jaishankar asserted India should never compromise on terrorism.
“For us to tolerate, justify (terrorism) -- are all wrong. The only response to terrorism is counter-terrorism. And they should understand this to make it a deterrent,” he further said.
Asked about the future of the World Trade Organisation amid China dumping goods in India through dubious methods and advanced countries using the WTO to their own convenience, the minister said while it has its own set of challenges, New Delhi should never leave the global forum.
“It (WTO) is a formal and accepted forum for talks. Here we would put forward our point, work with allies to save our interest. We recently held a meeting on fishing. We should also explore arrangements at bilateral and group levels,” he noted.
In his speech at the corporate summit, Jaishankar emphasised that reforms carried out by the government and policies framed to counter COVID-19 have helped India emerge from the pandemic and strengthen its economic position to such an extent that today “we are the fastest growing large economy”.
“This is one reason why global perception about India has changed,” he said. Given India’s leadership role, vision, stability, confidence and foreign investment figures, the world wants to collaborate with “us in our journey”, said the External Affairs Minister.