India’s energy imports from Russia are “very miniscule” and it is important to underscore that as a sovereign nation it has to make decisions that suit its interest, but New Delhi should be firmer in making clear that the Russian aggression against Ukraine is absolutely wrong, former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Thursday.
Terming India’s border skirmishes with China “very troubling” and that more attention needs to be paid on the issue, she said the US supports whatever India does to defend itself.
Speaking at the India Economic Conclave, she said Russia’s aggression against Ukraine may have very well saved Taiwan for the immediate future.
If the world were to see that kind of brutal invasion of Taiwan, as it has seen in Ukraine, the reaction to China could very well set their economy back by decades, she said, referring to the stringent economic sanctions slapped on Russia after the invasion of its neighbouring country on February 24.
Last month US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh cautioned that there will be consequences for countries actively attempting to “circumvent or backfill” American sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine and said Washington would not like to see a “rapid” acceleration in India’s import of energy and other commodities from Russia.
Later, External Affairs minister S Jaishankhar, during a visit to the US, said India’s energy purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon.
“India just gets 1-2 per cent of energy from Russia. This is a very miniscule amount of energy India imports (from Russia). I think it is important to underscore that India, like every sovereign nation, makes decisions that are in its interests.
“I would certainly argue for India to be part of the global response as you have…the humanitarian aid and other kind of support you have already given is really important,” the former US Secretary of State said.
The bigger problem currently, she said, was Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and it is making all efforts to wean them off Russian dependence.
“It is important to recognise that India is held in very high regard as a nation whose position matters. If Russia is looking around desperately (to) find somebody somewhere who is going to be neutral or be helpful… We are hoping that India will be firmer in making clear that this (the Russian aggression) is absolutely wrong,” Hillary Clinton, who held the top diplomatic post from 2009 to 2013, said.
She recalled that while working to impose United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran during her tenure as the Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, she travelled to India as it imported more oil from the West Asian country than what it does from Russia.
“It was a much bigger task and I did it one on one and I did it in the context of our governments talking to each other and made the case that it would be really terrible situation if Iran ends up with a nuclear weapon which then causes a nuclear arms race which is then subject to miscalculation and India being much closer to that than we are certainly had a stake in helping us try to prevent that.
“India was very helpful and did everything the country could do given your own circumstances,” the veteran American politician said.
The invasion of Ukraine has been an eye-opener and in many ways a wake-up call. People are watching more carefully what China does, she said.
“We have seen China taking over Hong Kong, we have seen China threatening Taiwan, we have seen threaten your (India) border and threaten your rightful sovereignty. Countries like China have vassal states…they don’t have allies,” she added.
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