Our sense of tech has been narrow in the past: Jaishankar

NEW DELHI: Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday advocated a more strategic and political view on technology, saying that since the global economy is largely driven by technology, it is impossible to ignore the political implications of this crucial area.

Speaking at the Global Technology Summit organized by Carnegie India in New Delhi, Jaishankar said: “We used to have a very narrow sense of technology. If you ask government personnel about strategic technology, they will say defense, nuclear energy and space. This view It’s been 50 years out of date. It’s a whole different world. We call it Atmanirbhar Bharat in India, you can call it economic ‘strategic autonomy'”.

While technology export controls mark a critical intersection between technology and politics, the former also provides the ability to influence sociopolitics and decision-making.

“We cannot be technology agnostic. We have to stop pretending that technology is neutral. Technology is not more neutral than the economy or any other activity,” said Minister Jaishankar.

Globalization, which Jaishankar calls a “deep reality,” also plays a role. As the world grows closer, technology has played a vital role in bringing economic, political and social distances closer. For Jaishankar, the future of globalization will also be driven by technology. The nature of this process will be a key question.

“The key question is: do you support a collaborative globalization, or a minority-dominated model? How flat or broad is the globalization model? This debate will be largely driven by technology,” the minister commented.

Technology and globalization have also disrupted the international system as we have known it for centuries.

Jaishankar said, “We live in an era where the Westphalian model of international relations is over. In an era of technological interpretation, where national borders are no longer sacred and countries are not black boxes. According to Jaishankar, India is very familiar with these challenges, which are These changes have raised concerns about the storage and processing of Indian user-generated data abroad. Jaishankar believes that the solution to these geopolitical changes is to increase trust and transparency.

“In areas like telecommunications, we’ve seen the concept of trusted providers. I think in the digital space we’ll hear a lot more about the concept of trusted geography,” the minister added.

India’s foreign minister said trust in the digital sphere must be complemented by supply chain resilience and reliability. There is a growing perception among countries that “just-in-time production is too risky,” he said.

India’s choice of partners will also determine its place in tech geopolitics. Jaishankar said India’s choice would depend on three questions: “Who provides access, who is our partner, and who is our market?”

Get all business news, market news, breaking news events and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App for daily market updates.

more less

Source link