In various ways, consequences of the pandemic will shape the content and conduct of India’s foreign policy. Examine (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· Being boxed in a China-dominated region will provide New Delhi with little space to pursue its regional, geopolitical ambitions except in the Indo-Pacific region.
· COVID-19, will prevent any ambitious military spending or modernisation plans and limit the country’s attention on global diplomacy and regional geopolitics.
Shaping the foreign policy
· From competing with China’s vaccine diplomacy, New Delhi today is forced to seek help from the international community, to deal with the worsening COVID-19 situation at home.
· While the United States seemed hesitant, at least initially, to assist India even as the pandemic was wreaking havoc in the country.
· Even though New Delhi did not accept the aid offers from Pakistan and China, these offers sounded more than the usual diplomatic grandstanding that states engage in during natural calamities.
· The pandemic would, at the very least indirectly, impact India’s policy of maintaining strategic autonomy.
· The strategic consequences of the pandemic are bound to shape and structure New Delhi’s foreign policy choices as well as constrain India’s foreign policy agency.
· New Delhi might do well to get the region’s collective focus on ‘regional health multilateralism’ to promote mutual assistance and joint action on health emergencies.
