‘Very important for West to engage’: Finland President says he won’t put India in same basket as Russia, China

While acknowledging the similarities and the direct connection between Russia and China, Finland President Alexander Stubb said he won’t put India in the same basket as these two nations. Stubb added that it is important for the Western countries to engage with India.

“Some multi-vectoral foreign policy is taking place there. I think, of course, Russia and China have a direct connection. In the early 1990s China and Russia had economies of the same size, but now China is over 10 times bigger. And actually, with its oil purchase, with its gas purchase, with its technological exchange, it does give the possibility for Russia to conduct the war, so there's a very close link there,” said Stubb in an interview.

“Then of course with India, India is a very close ally of the European Union and of course of the United States as well, so I wouldn't throw them in the same basket, but India is obviously an emerging superpower. It's got demography. It's got economy on its side, and I always argue that it's very important for the West to engage India, work with them,” he said.

This is not the first time Stubb has signalled a more cooperative stance with India. He had also attended the SCO Summit in Tianjin, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The visuals of Modi, Putin and Xi Jinping’s bonhomie from the event threw off the Western leaders as well as experts.

Stubb had indicated that whatever they saw at the SCO was brewing for a longer time on the sidelines. He said there’s been an attempt to undermine the unity of the global west and without a “more dignified foreign policy with especially the global south, the likes of India” they were going to lose this game. Stubb said the SCO was a good reminder to the West about what was at stake, and that they were trying to preserve the remnants of the old order.