Countries "cherry pick" principles when it suits them: Jaishankar in Japan defends India's stance on Russia
Jaishankar has defended India's stance on Russia amidst ongoing Ukraine conflict, stating that people tend to «cherry-pick principles» when it suits them and ignore them when it doesn't.
Jaishankar, who is currently on a visit to Japan while responding to a question at the Nikkei Forum on India-Japan Special Strategic Partnership, said that Indian territory has been occupied by another country but the world has maintained silence over the matter.
The foreign minister was asked during the interaction whether India's decision to not criticise Russia and its territorial violation of Ukraine, should be taken to be «double-standards.»
«My position would be that the world is a complicated place, and there are many important principles and beliefs in the world. What happens sometimes in world politics is countries pick one issue, one situation, one principle, and they highlight it because it suits them,» Jaishankar said.
«But if one looks at the principle itself, we in India know better than almost any other country because immediately after our independence, we experienced aggression, we experienced an effort to change our boundaries. And even today, parts of India are occupied by another country. But we did not see the world response saying, oh, there's a great principle involved, and therefore, let us all go with India,» he said.
«Yes, today we are being told that there are principles involved. I wish I'd seen that principle in play for the last 80 years. I've seen those principles cherry-picked when it suits
