New Delhi, May 19 -- Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday emphasised that the same forces of trade and supply chains which were expected to bind nations together have become the key instruments of coercion.

Speaking at a seminar on "Security to Prosperity: Smart Power for Sustained National Growth" at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies in the national capital, he said, "The 21st century opens with a confident thesis that forces of trade, supply chains and digital connectivity would make nations too interdependent to conflict. Paradoxically, the same forces that promise to bind nations together have progressively become instruments of coercion.

The Army Chief highlighted several ongoing global issues, including the limit...