New Delhi: Germany’s new ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, said on Tuesday that there were parallels between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s “infringements” at the border on an “abstract level”, but added that they differed in “dimension”.
India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar has previously pointed out that Europe has been selective in invoking outrage over violations of international law after the Ukraine invasion, even though the rules-based order had been under stress in Asia for a long time.
In answer to a question on Jaishankar’s accusations that Europe had turned a blind eye to earlier violations before Ukraine, Ackermann said that Beijing’s actions at the India-China border were not in keeping with international law, but contended that their scope was different.
“We are aware of the Indian problem at its Northern border. We should not forget that China claims Arunachal Pradesh is its part. We see very clearly that the infringements at the (China-India) border is extremely difficult and should not be accepted,” he said at his first media briefing after presenting his credentials to Indian President Droupadi Murmu.
But, he added, “By dimension, it is completely different, although, at an abstract level, they are both [violations of international law].”
The German envoy noted that China “does not hold 20% of the Indian territory”, and neither is China “systematically destroying every village, every town in the area”.
The envoy also described China’s claims over Arunachal Pradesh are “outrageous”.
He accepted that the Ukraine crisis had a “Western angle”, but added that the consequences of the war demonstrated its global magnitude beyond, with high food prices impacting various countries around the world.
Describing the Russian attack on Ukraine as the most serious aggression in the world since the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the envoy said he believed the Indian side also very well recognised that the Russian attack on Ukraine was a violation of international law.
Ackermann said India and Europe might not agree on “every single line” regarding the Ukraine crisis, but there was an understanding of the problem between the two sides.
In answer to a question about whether Germany has accepted India’s ‘neutral’ position of not criticising Russia and rising purchase of Russian crude, Ackermann welcomed India’s recent vote at the UN Security Council allowing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the global body virtually and described it as “progress” in New Delhi’s position.
He said India’s vote was a reflection of a “clear view”, which was different from Russia, which wanted to stop Zelensky from speaking at the UN Security Council.
The Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had told reporters last week that India had “not voted against anybody”. “It was a proposal to allow him to vote, to speak virtually, and we supported it. I think this was the third occasion that he spoke virtually. There have been two occasions in the past where he spoke virtually, and we supported that,” he said on August 25.
On long-pending India-European Union free trade agreement, he said a “very ambitious” timeline had been set for it, and the next round of negotiations, slated to be held soon, could see concrete work on the text of the pact and key measures.
Responding to a question on India’s concerns over some anti-India extremist elements operating from Germany, Ackermann said both sides have “intense cooperating” on issues relating to security, and Berlin is cooperating to address issues flagged by New Delhi.
Asked about the German foreign ministry’s critical comments last month following the arrest of fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, Ackermann said the two countries have a sophisticated partnership, and discussions on such issues must be possible under such a framework of cooperation.
“Germany and India have a partnership that is so sophisticated and so granular to some context. In this context, free discussions must be possible,” he said.
A man walks near a residential building destroyed during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko
‘Heartbreaking’: Delay in visas for Indian students
The newly-appointed envoy also acknowledged the long delays in issuing visas by the German embassy in India that have affected many Indian students. “We are very unhappy about the current situation. It is a big concern for us, because we want Indians to get visas smoothly and quickly,” he said.
On thousands of Indian students being unable to join academic courses in German educational institutions, he said it was “heartbreaking”.
The German ambassador acknowledged that some of the Indian students who applied for visas would be unable to get them on time for the upcoming semester in some of the institutes.
“We are speaking to some universities about the visa issues… There are hiccups,” he said.
Ackermann suggested that around 10-15% of visa applications involved fraud, and the authorities must scrutinise the documents thoroughly.
“We have to ensure that only the deserving students go to Germany,” he said, indicating that some agents had misled the students.
(With PTI inputs)