India calls Ukraine conflict a 'wake-up call' for Europe

New Delhi has rebutted the West's calls to take a firmer stance on the Ukraine crisis

India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar dismissed what he called 'a lot of arguments from Europe'. AP

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India's foreign minister on Tuesday said the Ukraine-Russia conflict represented a “wake-up” call for Europe.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's comments served as a rebuttal to a leading European politician who had issued a warning that the crisis would have consequences for New Delhi’s interests in Asia.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday sounded caution for India over the Ukraine conflict and said the crisis would affect the Asia-Pacific region, where India and China are engaged in a power tussle.

But on the second day of the Raisina Dialogue, India’s biggest foreign policy event, Mr Jaishankar dismissed the claims and accused the West of turning a blind eye towards Asia.

“We've been hearing for the last two months a lot of arguments from Europe, saying there are things happening in Europe and Asia should worry about it, because this could happen in Asia,” Mr Jaishankar said.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visits Borodyanka, near Kyiv, where Russian forces are accused of killing civilians. AFP

Children play in the wreckage of a Russian armoured vehicle in Lukashivka, Chernihiv region, northern Ukraine. The village has been retaken by Ukrainian forces. EPA

A cyclist passes a destroyed building in Derhachi village, near besieged city Kharkiv, in north-eastern Ukraine. AFP

Burnt-out wreckage of a tank in Kolychivka village, Chernihiv region, northern Ukraine. EPA

A Ukrainian flag flies in a park in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. A rocket attack on the city railway station earlier in April killed at least 50 people. AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a meeting of MPs in St Petersburg. EPA

Youngsters Faddei and Oleksandr play in front of a church damaged during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region. Reuters

A demonstrator turns emotional as she attends a rally in Kyiv demanding a humanitarian corridor to rescue civilians from Mariupol. Reuters

A Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-25 releases decoy flares as it provides air support to Ukrainian ground forces near central city of Yampil. AFP

An officer from National Guard of Ukraine surveys weapons left behind by Russian troops in Chernobyl. AFP

Mr Putin attends a meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Moscow. Reuters

Members of a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency carry equipment as they arrive at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine. AP

Ukrainian troops fire rockets from the city of Popasna, near Luhansk. EPA

Lithuanian musician Darius Mazintas plays a piano in front of the Central House of Culture destroyed during Russia's invasion, in the town of Irpin, outside Kyiv. Reuters

Ukrainian refugees Julia, second left, 32, and Miroslava, left, 11, walk away with relatives who received them after they crossed into Poland from Ukraine at the Dorohusk border. AFP

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meets Mr Guterres in Moscow. AFP

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley, left, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, second left, and Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov, right, attend the Ukraine Security Consultative Group meeting at Ramstein airbase in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany. Getty Images

Smoke rises from an oil terminal hit by fire in Bryansk, Russia. AP

People take pictures by the wreckage of a Russian military vehicle, in the village of Rusaniv, Kyiv region. Reuters

Smoke rises above the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant amid fighting in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters

People carry a large Ukrainian flag as they attend a rally to mark the 77th anniversary of Liberation Day in Milan, Italy. The day remembers Italians who fought against the Nazis and Mussolini's troops during the Second World War. EPA

A Ukrainian soldier looks at a Russian ballistic missile's booster stage that fell in a field in Bohodarove, eastern Ukraine. AFP

People watch as a residential building burns after Russian bombardment in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. EPA

A young girl in front of people carrying a huge Ukrainian flag during a peaceful demonstration entitled 'Solidarity with Ukraine' in Krakow, Poland. Reuters

A boy stands next to a wrecked vehicle in front of an apartment damaged during the conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP

A Ukrainian man rides in front of a destroyed building in Kharkiv which had been shelled by the Russians. EPA

A Ukrainian Territorial Defence fighter in a shelter with an Easter Cake near Kharkiv. Ukrainians mark Orthodox Easter today. EPA

Residents receive Easter cakes and apples handed out by pro-Russian troops on Easter Day at the Svyato-Troitsky Church in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters

A woman photographs the scene of yesterday's shelling in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa. Eight people were killed, including a three-month child, and about 20 were wounded. EPA

A military chaplain blesses Ukrainian soldiers on the occasion of Orthodox Easter not far from the city of Izyum in Kharkiv. EPA

An internally displaced man walks with dogs in the Palace of Culture, which was damaged by shelling in Rubizhne, eastern Ukraine. AFP

Tulips grow next to a building destroyed by shelling in Rubizhne. AFP

Internally displaced people wait to receive food inside a factory that has been turned into a shelter, in Severodonetsk. AFP

Members of the Ukrainian Red Cross carry a woman, 92, to an ambulance from a bunker at a factory in Severodonetsk. AFP

Ambulance workers move an injured Ukrainian serviceman to a hospital in Donetsk. AP

A woman sits inside a subway station that has been turned into a shelter, on the outskirts of second largest Ukrainian city, Kharkiv. AFP

Residents shelter in a subway station in Kharkiv. AFP

Anastasiya Kryvoho attends a candlelight vigil for Ukraine on the Orthodox Holy Saturday, in Toronto, Canada. Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a press conference with international media in an underground metro station in Kyiv. AFP

Firefighters work at the scene of a fire after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA

A family from Myrne, a town occupied by Russian forces, wait to register with police at an evacuation point for people fleeing from Mariupol, Melitopol and surrounding towns. Getty Images

Oleksandr, 25, meets his parents Olga, 49, and Oleksandr, 50, who fled from the Russian-occupied village of Lyubimivka, at the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia. EPA

Residents walk near a damaged military vehicle in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol. AP

A heavily damaged apartment building in Horenka. Getty Images

Residents wrapped in blankets stand near their houses damaged by Russian shelling in Odesa. AP

A Ukrainian flag is installed on top of a gob pile in Lysychans, eastern Ukraine. AFP

A Ukrainian soldier rests at a checkpoint in Severodonetsk. AFP

“Guess what? Things have been happening in Asia for the last 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it, so this could be a wake-up call for Europe, not just in Europe, it could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia."

Mr Jaishankar said Asia has been under stress for a long time and rest of the world needs to recognise the challenges the region faces, including territorial disputes and state-sponsored terrorism.

He talked about last year’s Afghanistan crisis and said an “entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world”.

Several western nations, including the US, have in recent weeks have advised India that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could set a precedent and pose a threat to India’s security in the Asia-Pacific region, where New Delhi has joined an informal US-led “quad” alliance to blunt China’s influence.

The latest warning came from Ms von der Leyen in her address at the Raisina Dialogue.

She said the European crisis was a “defining moment” and the right decisions by nations would determine future politics and the state of the global economy.

“If we consider what it means for Europe and Asia that Russia and China have forged a seemingly unrestrained pact, they have declared that the friendship between them has no limits. There are no forbidden areas of co-operation,” she said.

Himalayan dispute

India and China are regional rivals who have been engaged in a military confrontation along the disputed border in the northern Himalayan Ladakh region, which led to a brief full-scale war in 1962.

Tension has been simmering since and in 2020 there was a deadly brawl between Indian and Chinese patrols in the area, leading to frosty diplomatic relations.

India’s stance on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has irritated much of the West, with President Joe Biden describing New Delhi’s response to the crisis “somewhat shaky”.

Moscow is India’s Cold War ally and also its largest weapons supplier. Both nations consider each other as strategic partners.

But New Delhi's refusal to explicitly condemn Moscow, as well as its attempts to increase energy supplies from Russia, have caused discomfort among its friends in the West.

Some diplomats have expressed the view that the Kremlin will not come to New Delhi’s rescue in case of military confrontation with Beijing because of its proximity to China.

But several western governments have offered New Delhi enhanced security and energy co-operation in a bid to dilute Indian-Russian economic ties.

On a visit to India, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new and enhanced security and defence partnership with New Delhi, including a collaboration in jet fighter development and maritime surveillance.

Ms von der Leyen on Monday announced a special council for trade and technology with New Delhi and said the ties between the EU and the South Asian nation were "a priority”.