Reiterating India's approach to the Indo-Pacific region, which is based on cooperation and collaboration, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today that the Indo-Pacific is "a fact of life”. 

Addressing the third edition of the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue being organised by the Indian Navy in association with the National Maritime Foundation, Jaishankar said that even those who "ostensibly have reservations" behave and operate in a manner that validates the Indo-Pacific which is its very seamlessness and inter-penetration.

"In truth, everybody is aware that there is a fusion of theatres that were unnaturally separated earlier. The politics of the day apparently creates some reluctance in admitting to that," the minister said on the opening day of the dialogue.

Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, addressing the same gathering, had reiterated that India is fully determined to protect its maritime interests, while it supports the maintenance of rule-based maritime systems, as mandated under UN Convention on the Law of Seas (UNCLOS), at the same time.

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Without mentioning China, Jaishankar said that it is the mind-set, or their insecurities, which is forcing many from recognising the realities of the region, which were "so obvious" and are staring all in the face.

"If one is steeped in the ethos of the Cold War and even leveraged it to advantage, it is not easy to accept that others can approach the world very differently. Especially if the objective is to create a wider, more collaborative and more democratic approach to achieve common good," he said.

The External Affairs Minister insisted that in the post-Covid era, when everyone seeks to de-risk the world from concentrated production and fragile supply chains, one expects that policies of Indo-Pacific states which "overcome psychological limitations" create more opportunities for cooperation.

"Not just that, also the possibility that such endeavours that would involve greater participants would be based more on respect for laws, rules and norms," he added.

He said that as globalization advances and becomes more diversified, there will only be a greater appreciation of the inter-dependence and broader footprints that the Indo-Pacific expresses.

"Given this direction, denying the Indo-Pacific is tantamount to denying globalization," the minister said.

Click here for full remarks by External Affairs Minister at the 3rd Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue