New Delhi: Alexander Stubb, president of Finland, has urged other European nations and the US to adopt a more “cooperative and dignified foreign policy” towards countries in the Global South, particularly India. The failure to do so could lead to significant losses for the West, he has warned.
Referring to the just concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China, Stubb said that the meeting was a good reminder of how important it was to “preserve the remnants of the old order”.
His remarks are of special significance as Stubb is considered close to US president Donald Trump. The two forged an unusually close rapport in March this year during a marathon seven-hour round of golf at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Analysts say Stubb belongs to a very select circle of European leaders whose views can actually sway the US President.
Trump had openly praised Stubb, calling him a “young, powerful man” who has “done a great job”. The US president is also known to have said: “We wanted to have you here because you are somebody that we all respect.”
The Finnish president’s message was directed to both the European Union (EU) and the US amid ongoing trade tensions between India and the US over Trump’s sweeping 50% tariffs on Indian imports.
“My message, not only to my European colleagues, but especially to the United States, is that if we don’t derive a more cooperative and dignified foreign policy towards the Global South, the likes of India, we are going to lose this game,” Stubb said.
“The meeting (SCO Summit) is a good reminder to all of us in the Global West of what is at stake. We’re trying to preserve the remnants of the old order,” Stubb said.
While there has been no reaction from Washington, analysts believe that Trump may ponder on what Stubb has said.
“Among small countries, there is no equivalent whatsoever. (Stubb) has gained unique access to Trump that no one else from a smaller European country has ever had,” Jan Hallenberg of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs was quoted as saying by news agency AFP recently.