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India seeks to build a new ‘coalition of the unwilling’
The move to engage like-minded international partners reflects a foreign policy which is more nuanced than most think
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What India’s partners may perceive as unprincipled opportunism, its leadership sees it as a steadfast and necessary commitment to the country’s national interest.
PHOTO: AFP
Jay Vinayak Ojha
As Mr Narendra Modi’s new government takes shape in India, the now three-term prime minister has done everything possible to emphasise continuity from his second term, particularly when it comes to ties with other countries.
The reappointment of seasoned diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to his role as Minister of External Affairs is a vote of confidence in his stewardship of India’s foreign policy in perhaps the tensest geopolitical environment of the last half-century. India’s fleet-footed approach to its external relationships elicited reactions ranging from respect and acceptance to frustration and upset, particularly from the United States.
