(TibetanReview.net, Sep26’24) – While explaining his recent remark that 75% of military disengagement in eastern Ladakh towards the resolution of the border dispute there was done, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said Sep 24 that New Delhi’s ‘difficult history’ of whether to trust China to adhere to signed agreements continued to remain.
India has had a “difficult history” with China, which moved troops to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020, despite New Delhi having “explicit agreements” with it, indiatoday.in Sep 24 quoted Jaishankar as saying in New York.
“We have a difficult history with China. Despite the explicit agreements we had with China, we saw in the middle of Covid that the Chinese moved a large number of forces in violation of these agreements to the LAC. It was likely a mishap would happen and it did. So, there was a clash and a number of troops died on either side. That, in a sense, overshadowed the relationship,” he has said at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.
Explaining his “75%” remark, Jaishankar has said: “When I said 75% of it (border dispute) has been sorted out, it’s only of the disengagement. So, that’s one part of the problem. So we’ve been able to sort out much of the disengagement in the friction points. But some of the patrolling issues need to be resolved. The next step will be de-escalation.”
Jaishankar has stressed that ties between India and China is the key to the future of making Asia and the world multipolar.
“I think the India-China relationship is key to the future of Asia. If the world is to be multipolar, Asia has to be multipolar and therefore this relationship will influence not just the future of Asia, but in that way, perhaps the future of the world as well,” he has said.
The border issue remains the top priority for India in dealing with China, while the later disagrees, insisting that this should not be an impediment to restoring normal bilateral ties in other areas.
On Sep 13, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Russia’s St Petersburg. Both sides agreed to expedite “complete disengagement” on the remaining friction points along the LAC, where Chinese and Indian troops have been engaged in a protracted stand-off since May 2020, the report noted.
Before that, last month, India and China held the 31st round of border affairs meeting where both sides had a “frank, constructive and forward-looking exchange” of views on the situation along the LAC.
It was stated that the two countries decided to jointly uphold peace and tranquillity on the ground in the border areas in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments.
India also said in its latest External Affair Ministry statement, “It was reiterated that restoration of peace and tranquillity, and respect for LAC are the essential basis for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations.” China, on the other hand, said the border situation was stable and the two sides should normalize ties while continuing the efforts to settle their differences.