OK. India's External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar is about to speak to @mfullilove at @LowyInstitute and I'm going to live tweet. Please mute if you don't care about India's foreign policy (you should though you numpties, it's stupendously interesting) 1/

Jaishankar was previously the head of MEA (comparable to @dfat Secretary) before becoming Minister. Fullilove asks which job is more satisfying. Jaishankar doesn't quite answer but says the ministerial role gave him a "broader" view of both domestic and international politics 2/
Now to Jaishankar's new book "The India Way." He says the core ideas he's exploring in the book are "multi-polarity and re-balancing." A "new architecture" is being built as power shifts. But countries are now far more interdependent. This creates "constrained competition" 3/
Jaishankar also says a new "more expanded" view of national security is emerging, which includes things like "health, food, trade, data and energy" 4/
The Minister says he also "indirectly" broaches the argument over US decline in his book. He says he's "not a great believer" in US declinism, but adds that as relative power shifts "it creates an argument for a different relationship between the West and India" 5/
India has been battered by #COVID19 . Jaishankar recognises the scale of the challenge. He says the pandemic "took us completely by surprise." And he acknowledges that in some ways India was "completely unprepared" to deal with the crisis 6/
But he is cautiously optimistic about India's recovery. He says daily cases are down to one third of what they were at the peak. And he also believes the economy is on a path to recovery and growth 7/
Fullilove asks about Jaishankar's views on Xi Jinping and China in 2020. Jaishankar says these days "you have a very much more nationalistic China, and that is expressed down the line in a variety of ways. Often in policies as well." 8/
Now to India's conflict with China and the border standoff in Ladakh. Jaishankar says Chinese incursions are at the heart of the problem- "they have brought tens of thousands of soldiers to the LAC" (Line of Actual Control) 9/
Frank stuff here. Jaishankar says in these circumstances it is "not entirely surprising that something went horribly wrong" with clashes and combat deaths on the border. He says the conflict has "completely changed national sentiment (towards China) in India" 10/
Jaishankar: "peace on border is the basis for the (India China) relationship to progress." He says it's "not realistic" to separate the conflict from other elements of bilateral ties: "frankly the relationship has been significantly damaged" 11/
Jaishankar is downright gushing about how the India-Australia relationship has grown. Recites cliches about cricket, but more important: "if there's one relationship I take satisfaction in it is the Australia-India relationship." He calls it "a partnership waiting to happen" 12/
Now Fullilove asks about democracy in India. He quotes an Economist piece which argued civil liberties and the rule of law are being degraded under Modi. He asks "are you concerned by perceptions in the West that India is moving in an illiberal direction" 13/
Jaishankar is quite dismissive. He argues some Western liberals are uncomfortable with contemporary India simply because they have not grappled with the way it has democratised. Its political leaders are no long English-speaking elites with familiar attitudes 14/
The full answer here really is quite interesting, so I'm reproducing it below 15/
Now Jaishankar is asked if Australia and India will ever sign a formal trade or defence pact. Jaishankar acknowledges the long running FTA negotiations (editor: don't hold your breath) and emphasises defence cooperation. But adds he doesn't know how formal those links will be 16/
The conversation ends with another somewhat painful cricket analogy (I LOVE CRICKET BUT WHY DO WE ALWAYS RESORT TO CRICKET CLICHES WHEN WE TALK ABOUT AUSTRALIA-INDIA TIES ARGGHHH) but overall it was both illuminating and interesting 17/

More from Politics

My piece in the NY Times today: "the Trump administration is denying applications submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services at a rate 37 percent higher than the Obama administration did in 2016."

Based on this analysis: "Denials for immigration benefits—travel documents, work permits, green cards, worker petitions, etc.—increased 37 percent since FY 2016. On an absolute basis, FY 2018 will see more than about 155,000 more denials than FY 2016."
https://t.co/Bl0naOO0sh


"This increase in denials cannot be credited to an overall rise in applications. In fact, the total number of applications so far this year is 2 percent lower than in 2016. It could be that the higher denial rate is also discouraging some people from applying at all.."

Thanks to @gsiskind for his insightful comments. The increase in denials, he said, is “significant enough to make one think that Congress must have passed legislation changing the requirements. But we know they have not.”

My conclusion:
39.1% of Democrats think that it's wrong to negatively stereotype people based on their place of birth... AND that Southerners are more racist. https://t.co/yp1hviLuBB


65.2% of Republicans think that people shouldn't be so easily offended... AND that Black Lives Matter is offensive.
https://t.co/znmVhqIaL8


64.6% of Democrats think that a woman has the right to do what she wants with her body... AND that selling organs should be illegal.

48.5% of Democrats think that a woman has the right to do what she wants with her body... AND that prostitution should be illegal.


57.9% of Republicans think that people should be free to express their opinions in the workplace... AND that athletes should not be allowed to sit or kneel during the national anthem. https://t.co/ds2ig1NJFr


Democrats: Men and women are equal in their talents and abilities. Also, women are superior. https://t.co/bEFSmqQguo

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