On Pakistan, China And A Multi-Polar Asia: Highlights From PM Modi’s Raisina Dialogue Address

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (17 January) delivered the inaugural address at the second edition of the Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship geopolitical conference. Here are the highlights from his address.

- India’s situation is inextricably linked to the world beyond its borders. So the country’s domestic choices and international priorities should “form part of a seamless continuum”, said the prime minister.

- India welcomes “an increasingly multi-polar Asia”.

The prime minister said that we should guard against any instinct or inclination that promotes exclusion, especially in Asia.

- How do nations act in a situation where the frames of reference are shifting rapidly? The prime minister pointed to Hindu civilisational ethos for an answer.

- A thriving, well-connected and integrated neighbourhood is my dream. As examples for his commitment to the neighbourhood, Prime Minister Modi highlighted India’s assistance to Afghanistan in Parliament building and the India-Afghanistan Friendship Dam, connectivity and infrastructure projects and the settlement of land and maritime borders in the case of Bangladesh and “overall engagement in infrastructure, connectivity, energy and development projects” in the case of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives.

- On Pakistan, the prime minister said, “India alone cannot walk the path of peace. It also has to be Pakistan’s journey to make.”

- On China, Prime Minister Modi said it was “not unnatural for two large neighbouring powers to have some differences.” He added that both India and China needed to be sensitive, and show respect for, each other’s core concerns.

- Delinking terrorism from religion and rejecting the artificial distinctions between good and bad terrorism are now a global talking point, said the prime minister.

In conclusion, Prime Minister Modi spoke about Indian’s trait of favouring the needs of many over the want of one.