NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Theme : Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements involving India or affecting India’s interests.
Paper:GS-2
If 2022 was a momentous year for India and the rest of the world, 2023 is likely to further sharpen the geopolitical fault lines set in motion by the previous year.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Regional and global developments With which geopolitical and economic rise of Asia coincides
- Alternatives to a previous unipolar world
- Would a multipolar Asia be useful to Indian interests?
- Implications of a multipolar world
- Why will India hesitate to engage in the emergent Asian century?
- Road Ahead
Context : If 2022 was a momentous year for India and the rest of the world, 2023 is likely to further sharpen the geopolitical fault lines set in motion by the previous year.
Regional and global developments With which geopolitical and economic rise of Asia coincides:
- Withdrawal of the U.S. from much of continental Asia
- Aggressive rise of China
- Ukraine war
Alternatives to a previous unipolar world :
- Multipolar world with Russia, China, Japan, India and other, smaller powers asserting themselves on the global stage.
- China-dominated Asia: China will lead the world order.China-dominated Asia won’t serve India’s geopolitical interests.
Would a multipolar Asia be useful to Indian interests?
- It will invariably take away the relative ‘stability’ of the current world order where the power of the U.S. is on the decline and that of China is (still) on the rise.
- Peaceful coexistence: Multipolarity is premised on the rule of law or peaceful coexistence.
- Foreign secretary H.V. Shringla in 2021: India values a multipolar international order, underpinned by:
- International law
- Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries
- Resolution of international disputes through peaceful negotiations
- Free and open access for all to the global commons
Implications of a multipolar world :
- Financial order: Sharpening of opposition against the current global financial order.
- Weaponization of globalization and trade
- Sanctions against Russia, and Russia’s attempts in turn at evading them with help from its Asian partners (China, Iran, Turkey, India, etc.)
- Challenges to dollar-based trade and Western payment systems such as SWIFT.
Why will India hesitate to engage in the emergent Asian century?
- The Indian establishment has a deeply status quo view of the world order despite its frequent calls for change.
- It believes in a more democratic, orderly and rules-based world order
- It recognises that major systemic changes could also be accompanied by chaos.
- India likes slow, peaceful and consensual transformation of the system which, of course, is not what is happening today.
- Asian century without stable multipolarity: Multipolar world is most likely going to be a passing phenomenon.
- It will be replaced by a bipolar world dominated by the U.S. and China with others acting as balancing factors.
- A bipolar international system dominated by China and the U.S. is a bad deal for India: India, being a next-door adversary of China, could often be the target of Chinese ire.
- If the U.S. accommodates China as a peer: it could mean the U.S. accepting China’s sphere of influence.This could make India a casualty at the altar of great power politics.
Road Ahead :
- Multipolar world: India has to play a critical role in the cooperative networked system in our multi-polar world.
- India belongs both to the non-aligned movement: which reflects its experience of colonialism, and the community of democracies.It reflects its 75 years of experience as a democracy alongside many of the countries it rails against in the non-aligned movement.
FAQs :
-
What are the Implications of a Multi-polar World?
ANS.
- Financial order: Sharpening of opposition against the current global financial order.
- Weaponization of globalization and trade
- Sanctions against Russia, and Russia’s attempts in turn at evading them with help from its Asian partners (China, Iran, Turkey, India, etc.)
- Challenges to dollar-based trade and Western payment systems such as SWIFT.
-
Mention the Regional and global developments With which the geopolitical and economic rise of Asia coincides.
ANS.
- Withdrawal of the U.S. from much of continental Asia
- Aggressive rise of China
- Ukraine war