Fundamental rebalancing of international system at heart of changes in current world politics: Jaishankar

Fundamental rebalancing of the international system is at the heart of the changes in the current world politics and the metrics of measuring power now is not merely military but finance, trade, connectivity, data and technology, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.

Delivering a keynote address at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum 2020 on Thursday, he referred to the conditions created by COVID-19 and said the world is in the midst of the most catastrophic global events since the second world war and one of its consequences will be those living in extreme poverty will increase for the first time in a quarter-century.

"At the heart of the changes in the current world politics is the fundamental rebalancing of the international system. We also need to assign different weightage to different players, not just the US and China but others including India. And the metrics of measuring power is now very different. It's not merely military but finance, trade, connectivity, data, technology, and as we discovered recently it is masks and ventilators," he said.

Speaking on `Turning a geopolitical crisis into an opportunity', Jaishankar said apart from sections of people going back to poverty, the scenario created by COVID-19 will also have other results as well.

"Among them is how countries see national security and global trade, some much more differently than before. The additional stress in the global system will surely aggravate," the minister said.

He said among the most important realization that should be addressed is that many of the key stresses that shape the world predate the pandemic.

"It is customary on such occasion to start by emphasizing how much we are missing the good old times, hoping for a return to the real rather than the virtual life. I would not do that, not because I am a contrarian but to emphasize that importance to adapting to change rather than resisting it," he said.

Jaishankar said that the world traditionally tends to think of trade, finance, and mobility. "It is more equally important about other challenges such as climate change, pandemic, and terrorism. We are heading for a more fractured and complicated world -- one with greater multipolarity, and less multilateralism. In all this change, the opportunists are certainly there, seizing them will be the real test of our metal," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )