India’s rise will evoke its own reactions and responses, and there will be attempts to dilute the country’s influence and limit its interests, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.
Delivering the second Manohar Parrikar memorial lecture, Jaishankar also said that as India expands its global interests and reach, there is an even more compelling case to focus on its hard power.
The external affairs minister said the national security challenges being faced by the “rising India” are obviously going to be different and emphasised on having greater integration and convergence between the foreign and military policies.
The external affairs minister, delving into the broad spectrum of security challenges facing India, said it cannot disregard attempts to undermine the national integrity and unity.
“There are really very few major states that still have unsettled borders to the extent that we do. Of equal relevance is the very very unique challenge that we face of years of intense terrorism inflicted on us by a neighbour. We also cannot disregard attempts to undermine our national integrity and unity,” he said. “And over and above these exceptional factors, there are the daily security challenges of long borders and large sea spaces. The thinking and planning of a polity that operates in such an uncertain environment naturally should give primacy to hard security,” he said.