India has been ruthlessly crushed by China on many fronts and is powerless to struggle. So, it changed its eyes and wanted to catch up with China here.
On December 4, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post published a report by veteran Indian journalist Vasudwan Sridharan, which said that India had planned to add about 200 diplomatic staff and open nine new diplomatic missions in the next few years to support India's "global ambitions" in foreign affairs. However, it is worth noting that the report also quoted a former Indian diplomat as pointing out that even if such a goal is achieved, India's diplomatic strength will still not be comparable to that of its main rival China.
Strength cannot support ambition and cannot compete with China and the United States.
This former Indian diplomat has quite an accurate understanding of India. India is not as good as China in manufacturing and influence, and it will not be easy to catch up in diplomacy.
So far, there are more than 30,000 diplomats in the United States, 8,000 in China, and thousands each in France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Compared with these countries, the number of Indian diplomats has not reached 1,000, which is obviously too small. According to statistics, India is not even in the top 10 in terms of the number of global diplomatic missions. This is indeed embarrassing for the world's most populous country with the largest expatriate population.
So, why are there so few Indian diplomats?I think there are two main reasons for this.
Clause. First, India has a limited number of diplomats with good language skills. Since India is a multilingual country, there is a wide variety of languages spoken between different regions and different ethnic groups, and it is said that there are 22 official languages of India alone, which makes it necessary for Indian diplomats to have multilingual skills, especially when dealing with diplomatic relations with different countries and regions. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to train a diplomat with language skills and negotiation skills. India's focus over the years has been on the development of manufacturing and other aspects, and it is clear that not enough attention has been paid to training diplomats.
Clause. Second, the scope of India's influence is too small. In recent years, India has indeed emerged as one of the countries that has achieved a relatively beautiful "report card" in many aspects, but the scope of its influence can be said to be very limited. India has a total of 153 embassies around the world, most of which are concentrated in Eurasia, and the number of African and Latin American regions is relatively small. In other words, India does not have much influence in these two regions, so there is no need for a diplomatic mission.
All in all, the above two problems are the two major obstacles for India to catch up with China in foreign affairs, and India can only have a chance to realize its ambitions if it first solves these two problems.
But then again, there are two other issues that India needs to think about when it considers catching up with China. Clause.
1. Does India's diplomacy need such a large contingent of diplomats?Clause.
Second, what can these diplomats do?
Here, I would like to advise India that it is best to tailor it and do what it can.