China will give US a run for its money, says Jaishankar; calls it ‘instructive for India’

The EAM was speaking at the inaugural session of the Aravalli Summit 2025, held to mark 70 years of the School of International Studies at JNU in New Delhi.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Monday, said that China is poised to challenge the U.S. in multiple spheres, a shift he describes as "instructive for India". He was speaking at the inaugural session of the Aravalli Summit 2025, held to mark 70 years of the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.

“China is going to give America a run for its money in several areas. This is instructive for a country like India,” the EAM noted, reflecting on the evolving global power balance.

The EAM noted, “Clearly, the US is going to get a run for its money, which would not have been the case a few decades ago.”

Jaishankar said that the emerging competition between the U.S. and China holds key lessons for India on how to strengthen its own foundations for the future.

“These are instructive for a country like India....how do you build those deeper strengths, how do you create a workforce, the startup culture, the entrepreneurship, the institutions really to look at imbibing, absorbing and creating technology,” he remarked.

The minister also stressed that India’s foreign policy decisions have always been guided by its own national interests rather than alignment with global blocs.

“Even when we were much weaker, we never aligned with anyone. Recent developments around the world only reinforce the need for India to think independently and act in accordance with its own priorities,” he said.