Form of words:
aUS Secretary of State Wendy Sherman pushes all buttons to underscore special ties with India and is followed this week by Denmark’s prime minister Mette Fredriksen Attempting to do exactly that, two seemingly unrelated questions are behind the scenes, knocking against the shadows.
The first question is, who is going to be the next foreign secretary of India? incumbent, Harsho Bardhan Shringla will retire in mid-2022 and the names of potential successors are already in the news.
The second question is, who is the most powerful foreign diplomat of Delhi?
next foreign secretary
The answer to the second relates to India’s foreign policy priorities – the neighbourhood, the US, France, Russia and the UK. Quad coalition, consisting of Australia and Japan. Surely China is in a doghouse since its incursion into Ladakh East In 2017, a face-off took place on the Doklam plateau of Bhutan.
But there is no ambassador in the US yet and it is not known when President that Biden’s choice, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, will find his way to New Delhi due to a bottleneck of appointments in the US Congress, which means he is indefinitely “Confirmation Purification.”
That’s why the answer to the second question is linked to the first. Since the US remains India’s most influential relationship, it follows that India’s ambassador to the US is always in the eyes of Delhi. The current incumbent, Taranjit Sandhu, who is also the former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka – which is slowly moving to China – is a seasoned hand. He has handled many VVIP trips with great gusto, Latest by PM Narendra Modi was in Washington DC less than a fortnight ago, when he was in Washington DC to attend the first Quad summit meeting as well as hold talks with Joe Biden.
Read also: Danish PM Mette Fredriksson to begin 3-day visit to India from October 9
Sandhu’s main rivals for the top post in South Block are said to be Vinay Kwatra, India’s ambassador to Nepal and a former ambassador to France.
Kwatra’s advantage is that he once translated from English to Hindi and vice versa for Prime Minister Modi. He has also been in the PMO. Remember that Nepal relations are being tactfully monitored by the office of NSA Ajit Doval, because of its sensitive and complex nature.
Now the visit of Wendy Sherman, the follow-up action of the Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Journey at the end of July, intends to take steps to reassure India that despite the way America Abandoning Afghanistan – leaving Pakistan to feast on plunder – it would support India’s democratic rise in the region.
But Sherman’s journey will be affected by mark rubio echo. At a US congressional hearing on Afghanistan in mid-September, Rubio rebuked the Biden administration.
“They (Indians) have to look at this (America withdrawal) and say that if America can be, you know, a third rate power like Pakistan highlights its target, they have a chance to face China. What’s the chance? So I think it leaves us in a terrible position,” Rubio said.
India Definitely adapted itself to US policy on Afghanistan, including Assistant Ashraf Ghani in power, and Watching as both Donald Trump and Biden sought to take advantage of Pakistan with the Taliban. Sherman is visiting Pakistan after her Delhi-Mumbai leg, as other senior US officials have done recently, to re-establish US interest in the region, despite the return debacle.
Read also: 27 countries in 21 months: Kovid didn’t stop Jaishankar from traveling around the world
powerful foreign diplomat
The answer to the question “most foreign powerful diplomat” is tied to the visit of the Prime Minister of Denmark this weekend, in which Freddy Sven, Denmark’s ambassador to India, successfully “kim davy affair– When in 1995 a Danish national dropped weapons in Purulia, West Bengal, India was seeking his extradition. in 2010, which De. had turned downnMark – with the rest of the relationship.
Frederickson will spend the weekend in Delhi and Agra, the first head of government to visit India since the pandemic – shortly after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Copenhagen – promoting a “green partnership” that comes weeks before Modi’s visit. likely to come. Glasgow will participate in the COP26 climate change summit.
India to sign 2016 Kigali Amendment The Moscow Protocol in August means India is finally agreeing to accede to commitments to reduce greenhouse gases – even if compared to China (by 2045) to reduce its use of hydrofluorocarbons by 80 percent (by 2047). And America, the world’s two biggest polluters.
Crucially, the Modi government has found a way not to appear obstinate to the world community, even as it protects India’s interests – arguing that “development” and “progress” are directly related to energy spending. are proportional and, therefore, the release of pollutants.
Modi felt climate change was a big part of the Biden administration’s agenda and that he and India needed to remain relevant to the international dialogue if New Delhi Have to become less rigid and at least appear to compromise.
This motif – agreement on international climate change demands, but protecting national interests – is likely to undercut talks between Modi and Frederiksen later this weekend. Denmark would probably say that a small country is capable of cornering Modi – and a large part of that credit should go to its ambassador in Delhi, Freddy Swain.
Read also: India expresses concern over Haqqani, ISI in Afghanistan on US Deputy Secretary of State’s visit
Sven is no ordinary European. As Ambassador to India between 2010-2015, he realized that the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi, He was no ordinary politician. so when Danish company Roxul Rockwool Insulation Having decided to set up a plant in the Dahej Special Economic Zone in May 2011, Sven saw the opportunity and landed. Of course he met Modi; And draped in the famous Modi hug which was soon to become the CM-PM’s insignia.
Significantly, Swain became the first European diplomat to recommend his country to break the EU – and US – embargo He Modi was practically treated for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. He continued to work closely with bureaucrats closest to Modi in Gujarat, including Bharat Lal – who is now in charge of the government’s flagship “Nal Se Jal” project – to persuade the EU to come.
Swan never looked back; He was again sent to India as ambassador a few years back. He has ensured with a visit to Fredericksen that both countries have moved on from the “Kim Davey” affair – now considered to be on a different track from the rest of the relationship. Sven is proof that smaller countries can punch above their weight if they are on the right side of the government.
So, no prizes for guessing the answer to the second question: Who is Delhi’s most powerful foreign diplomat?
Jyoti Malhotra is the Senior Consulting Editor of ThePrint. She tweets @jomalhotra. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Neera Mazumdar)
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