India, Aug. 24 -- As India navigates an uncertain China, Bangladesh and an strategic Pakistan, the real question is if New Delhi can turn confident rhetoric into a neighbourhood policy

Speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum on Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar offered a phrase that will likely outlive the event itself: India, he said, must engage Beijing "from a position of confidence." It was meant to describe China policy alone, but by the time he had finished fielding questions on Bangladesh and Pakistan, it had become something closer to a governing philosophy for India's entire neighbourhood.

On China, the confidence has some substance behind it. Jaishankar was candid about the "particularly bad patch" be...