[INTERVIEW] India's envoy looks back on 75 years of independence

Exactly two years after Koreans were liberated from decades of occupation by Japan in 1945, Indians gained their independence from Britain. "This year's celebration is particularly important because it is the 75th year of our independence," said..

Sripriya Ranganathan, ambassador of India to Korea, speaks at the embassy in Seoul on Aug. 12 on the occasion of India's Independence Day. [WOO SANG-JO]

Exactly two years after Koreans were liberated from decades of occupation by Japan in 1945, Indians gained their independence from Britain.

“This year’s celebration is particularly important because it is the 75th year of our independence,” said Sripriya Ranganathan, ambassador of India to Korea, in an interview on Aug. 12. “We remember well the midnight of 15th of August in 1947 when the Indian flag formally went up for the first time and when we heard the radio address by our first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.”

To celebrate Independence Day, the Indian Embassy in Seoul joined other Indian diplomatic missions around the world in hosting programs on Indian heritage, culture and values for 75 weeks leading up to Aug. 15.

Many of these events were a reminder to Ranganathan, who is wrapping up a four-year stay in Seoul this month, of some of the things in common Indians and Koreans share in defining their nationhood.

“I really enjoyed a session we had with Indian and Korean women on the challenges that we face and have faced, and how far of a journey we had come in these areas as a nation,” she said, recalling a forum hosted with the Sookmyung Women’s University in March.

To hear more about Indian perspectives on nationhood, and what it might mean for the coming years of cooperation with Korea, the Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Ranganathan at the Indian Embassy in Seoul last week.

The following are edited excerpts of the interview.

Q. Where does Indian diplomacy, which has traditionally focused on neutrality, stand amid changing geopolitical circumstances like the Russian aggression in Ukraine?

A. Indian foreign policy and Indian domestic policy have always been rooted in principles. It's not a question of taking one side or the other. And I think the foreign minister put it very well when he was asked this question a few months ago [during an interview]. When asked about whether India has been “sitting on the fence” when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said. ‘I am not sitting on the fence just because I don't agree with you. It means I am sitting on my ground.” I think that is a perfect way of describing what India has tried to do in this crisis.

The Russians and the Ukrainians need to sit down and talk, they need to put an end to the kind of distrust and acrimony which has crept into the relationship. The rest of the world can provide a conducive climate, but it is for the government and the people of Russia and the government and the people of Ukraine to talk to each other and resolve this issue.

India has recently been dubbed the "weakest link in the Quad," or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a U.S.-led cooperative forum with India, Japan and Australia, in media reports describing the country’s economic and defense ties with China and Russia. What’s India’s response to such a characterization?

I think this analysis on the Indian engagement within Quad seems a little shallow because we have been very strongly involved in all of the Quad meetings and our contributions and our involvement has not left anything wanting.

But while we continue to pursue very strong and progressive cooperation and partnership with the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan, we will also continue to find ways of deepening our relationship and friendship with China and Russia. China is our biggest neighbor and it is not a country with whom we will do anything but engage and try to have the opportunities to iron out the irritants and find a progressive agenda so we can move ahead. Russia has been a country with whom we've had a long-standing partnership and friendship.

India's independence is historically linked with Pakistan's. In the lead up to both nations' Independence Day celebrations, a social media post about an Indian-Pakistani friendship at Harvard University went viral. Is it a wishful thinking to hope for better relations between the two nations?

What I hear from friends who have served in Islamabad is that on the people-to-people level, there is an amazing connection and camaraderie between the people of India and the people of Pakistan.

On a government-to-government level, however, the problem lies in the inability or the lack of desire of the Pakistani government to prevent its territory from being used for anti-India activities. So it's like what my prime minister has said: We will always be prepared to engage and cooperate with Pakistan, but as long as cross-border terrorism is being not only allowed, but encouraged from Pakistan … one cannot have [such] conversations.

As you are wrapping up your time in Seoul, what highlights do you recall in India-Korea ties in the past four years, and where do you see the two countries collaborating more in coming years?

I found the visit of my prime minister to Korea in February 2019 to be a very special moment, and one of the areas I have been very proud of what we have managed to achieve is in exploring the Buddhist connections between India and Korea. We were very privileged to gift a statue of Lord Buddha to the Tongdosa Temple of the Jogye Order.

I've also been trying to connect Korean SMEs with Indian agencies and partners. I found the Korean SME segment to be quite integrated with the global economy and having the capacity and interest to invest and find partnerships overseas. This bodes well for their growing partnership with India as we are home to over 100 unicorns, of which 65 were startups that became unicorns within the past two years.

We have also had significant conversations on the front of cooperation for civil nuclear energy. India has very robust systems in place for nuclear safety and security, and we have a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Korea that dates back to 2011. I would really hope that in the coming months we are able to pursue this conversation and take it to the next level.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]