“FOREIGN POLICY IS fun, to an extent it is theatre,” says Shivshankar Menon, who was India’s national security adviser until last year. He recalls a prime minister who so enjoyed talking about foreign policy that he let meetings on the subject run for three times their scheduled length.
Narendra Modi obviously loves it too. As Gujarat’s chief minister he showed unusual interest in other countries, visiting Japan, China and Britain, and hosting investor jamborees. As prime minister he has put more energy into foreign policy than anything else.
By giving so much attention to foreign affairs, Mr Modi has sidelined his foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj. By now he has spent 52 days of his first year abroad, visiting America, Japan, Brazil and Germany, among other countries. Many trips were overdue. It had been 28 years since an Indian prime minister had last paid a bilateral call on Sri Lanka or Australia; for Canada, the gap was 42 years.
India’s top diplomat, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, says this is about more than appearances. India, he explains, now aspires to be a “leading power...
from The Economist: Special report http://ift.tt/1SijpHz
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