Jaishankar On India-China Ties

EVEN as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed optimism about the future of bilateral relations between China and India, he said unfinished work on the Line of Actual Control remains and contended that the increased military might of the two nations is responsible for frequent clashes. Sino-Indian relations have deteriorated significantly since the Galwan Valley clash of 2020.

Jaishankar, while speaking at the Rising India Summit of Network 18, tried to breakdown down the complexities of the Sino-Indian relations into bite-size pieces. “The nature of the problem between India and China is that two militaries, which were not deployed at or on or very near the LAC, have done so to a great degree after May 2020. Before 2020, both militaries were primarily located in the depth areas where they had permanent bases and then they would patrol out into the LAC,” he said. He claimed the Chinese Military violated agreements from 1993-96 at the LAC which prompted countermeasures from the Indian side. “As a result, you have a very, very intricate situation of very close deployments which, by military assessments, is a very dangerous situation to be in,” he said. That this is a dangerous situation was accepted by Jaishankar’s Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as well in September 2020, the External Affairs Minister informed. “Since then, we have been trying to pull back the forward deployment but it can only be done when there is mutual agreement,” the minister assured. He conceded that “some unilateral moves” were made by India to improve relations with Beijing but “it was not reciprocated by the other side”. When the (disturbances) started, people said India could do nothing. My sense is that the military has done what it had to do. The military and diplomacy have worked together,” he said about India’s actions following clashes with China.

“I accept that we have not been able to sort everything out but I also tell you that for me, it is not the end of the road. We will keep at it,” he said exuding optimism over India and China’s relationship in future.