(TibetanReview.net, Sep29’26) – Relations with China today are “better” today than they were a year or two ago, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said Sep 28, attributing the improvement to the easing of tensions along the border and the gradual restoration of normal bilateral engagement.
Speaking at an Asia Society conversation event in New York, Jaishankar has said if he was to compare the ties between India and China at present against before, his answer would be positive.
“After the 2020 standoff, all “normal contacts” between the two countries had stopped. While trade continued, official exchanges, visa issuance and flights were affected,” indiatoday.in Sep 29 quoted Jaishankar as saying.
“Once the border standoff was resolved, it was natural that this would start to improve,” hindustantimes.com Sep 29, likewise, quoted Jaishankar as saying.
“What we’ve had is that, as the border comes back more towards normalcy, the relationship comes back more towards normalcy… If it happens, it helps both of us.”
India’s approach was based on the principle that the state of the border influences the broader relationship, newindianexpress.com Sep 29 cited Jaishankar as saying.
“We came down to a very fundamental principle, which is that the state of the border determines the state of the relationship. You can’t have tension…on the border and say the relationship should be normal.”
Referring to the current state of bilateral relations, Jaishankar has clarified that this was not so much a “structural change”, but that ties had improved partly because they had gone “so much off-track” after the 2020 border standoff, according to the indiatoday.in report.
Regarding this, the newindianexpress.com report said India and China had taken steps since 2024 to stabilise their relationship, while significant strategic differences remain.