And, the very closeness, which is the definition of being a neighbour, is actually the complication, and there are other aspects to it, he underlined.On Bangladesh, the EAM said, for obvious reasons, a lot of interest in that relationship.”With Bangladesh, since its independence, our relationships have gone up and down. It is natural that we will deal with the government of the day”But, we also have to recognise that there are political changes and the political changes can be disruptive. Clearly we have to look here, mutuality of interests,” he added.On India-Myanmar relations, he said Myanmar is “relevant and remote at the same time”.In his address, he also spoke about regionalisation, and with whom and on what terms “do we regionalise” is the question before India.”The basic metric of looking at a conundrum should be where is our national security, benefits or risk in that relationship. Does it help the growth of comprehensive national power and does it expand our freedom of choice,” Jaishankar said.The second is the major powers. Major powers will be a conundrum because they are major, because of the breadth of their interests. They will always have an agenda, which will overlap with India, but to differing degrees, also diverge, he said.”In the case of China, you have a ‘double conundrum’, because it’s a neighbour and a major power. So, the challenges with China fits this double definition,” he added.”India must be a lifting tide for the entire neighbourhood,” the EAM said in his address. Jaishankar said this book is written “for generalists, it’s not a book by the MEA, for the MEA”. “I think it is very important today to demystify foreign policy, my own endeavour in the last few years has been to take foreign policy out of MEA, and out of Delhi, and try to actually get a larger conversation started up on it,” he said.”I am also a member of the small cabal about which he is more critical when it comes to the US nuclear deal… this book is practical and grounded and it doesn’t over-prescribe,” he added.
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