India and the Kindleberger Trap: Multipolarity Amid the Taiwan Crisis
Jagannath Panda
Introduction:
In September 2019, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in his statement at an Alliance for Multilateralism meeting unambiguously stated that “the Kindleberger Trap on the shortage of global goods is far more serious than the Thucydides Trap.” Moreover, he warned against nationalism, mercantilism, violation of international law, and mechanisms or institutions that are too outdated to fight fast-evolving global challenges.
These warnings were surely a veiled indictment of China’s mercantilism, authoritarian practices, and disregard for laws like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as of moribund multilateral regimes like the United Nations that fail to reflect contemporary realities and have proved ineffective in preventing modern crises.
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