India’s diplomacy with EU, US: Pushback in recent years, challenges over the past decades

Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said that the targeting of India by the US and European Union (EU) was “unjustified and unreasonable”, and that India would take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its “national interests and economic security”.

Pushback against Europe

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has been vocal in articulating India’s stand on the global stage over the past three years. Consider:

🔴 In March 2022, speaking in the presence of then British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Jaishankar said that the talk of sanctions “looks like a campaign”, and that Europe was in fact, buying more oil from Russia than before the war in Ukraine.

He pointed out that Europe had bought 15% more oil and gas from Russia in that month than in the previous month.

“If you look at the major buyers of oil and gas from Russia, I think you’ll find most of them are in Europe. We ourselves get the bulk of our energy supplies from the Middle East, about 7.5-8 per cent of our oil from the US in the past, maybe less than per cent from Russia,” he said.

🔴 In April 2022, Jaishankar said in Washington DC that India bought less oil from Russia in a month than what Europe did in less than a day. “If you are looking at energy purchases from Russia…your attention should be focused on Europe. We do buy some energy, which is necessary for our energy security. But I suspect looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon,” he said.

🔴 In June 2022, speaking in Slovakia, Jaishankar said “Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems.”

🔴 In December 2022, Jaishankar said that New Delhi’s purchases were a sixth of Europe’s in the nine months since the war in Ukraine began. Speaking with then  German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, he said, “I understand that Europe has a point of view [on Ukraine] and Europe will make the choices it will make… But for Europe to make choices which prioritise its energy needs, and then ask India to do something else…

“Bear in mind, today, Europe is buying a lot [of crude] from the Middle East. The Middle East was traditionally a supplier for an economy like India. So it puts pressure on prices in the Middle East as well….”

The Minister also pointed out that “between February 24 and November 17, the European Union has imported more fossil fuel from Russia than the next 10 countries combined”, and that “oil import in the European Union is like six times what India has imported. …The European Union imported 50 billion euros worth [of gas].”

🔴 In May this year, the Minister observed that India was looking for partners, “not preachers”, and some of Europe is “still struggling with that problem”.

“…We look for partners, we don’t look for preachers, particularly preachers who don’t practise at home what they preach abroad…,” he said.

While Jaishankar’s words probably did not win him many friends in Europe, it was interpreted in India as an assertion of the country’s “strategic autonomy”.

Testing times in US ties

The relationship between India and the United States has faced several challenges over the decades.

🔴 The cyclical up-down in ties can be traced back more than half a century to the time when President Richard Nixon backed Pakistan during the 1971 war. The Seventh Fleet of the US Navy had moved into the Bay of Bengal, but India’s friendship treaty with the Soviet Union deterred the Americans from entering the war directly.

🔴 The US and much of the West imposed sanctions on India after the nuclear tests in Pokhran in May 1998. India navigated its way out of the crisis by engaging with the US —  talks between Jaswant Singh and then US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott ultimately led to the Indo-US nuclear deal a decade later in 2008.

🔴 In December 2013, Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was detained and searched following allegations that she was not paying her help enough. The incident infuriated Indian diplomats, and the government took steps to make a point — removing security barricades around the US embassy in New Delhi, and scrutinising diplomatic privileges for American diplomats in India.

Jaishankar was India’s ambassador to the US at the time, and he played a key role in securing the release of Khobragade. But the ties with the US suffered a severe setback in the last six months of the UPA II government. It took a call between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2014 to bring ties back on track.

Dealing with President Trump

As Trump ratchets up the rhetoric against India, New Delhi has held up the mirror to the double standards of his administration.

Standing its ground against the President’s bullying tactics and negotiating a trade deal with the US without ceding too much ground — this will be the test of India’s resilience and strategic autonomy.

Over the last quarter century, India and the US have built what President Obama described as the defining partnership of the 21st century.

However, Trump’s words and actions appear to bear out the truth of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s words — that to be an enemy of the US is dangerous, but to be a friend could be fatal.

Dealing with Trump is arguably the biggest challenge for Indian diplomacy since 1998.