(TibetanReview.net, Aug13’22) – India-China relations are not normal because the border situation is not normal and the country’s position on China’s one-China principle and related issues is well known and don’t require reiteration, India’s External Affair Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi and Minister S Jaishankar have said Aug 12 in separate addresses in New Delhi and Bengaluru respectively. India has also indicated disapproval of China’s just concluded military drills around Taiwan, saying it does not want to see the status quo in the situation being sought to be changed unilaterally.
“We have maintained our position that if China disturbs the peace and tranquility in border areas, it will impact our relations. Our relationship is not normal, it cannot be normal as the border situation is not normal,” the ANI news service Aug 13 quoted Jaishankar as saying on the India-China issue.
Also, speaking on the Pakistan-China cooperation on the latter’s Belt and Road Initiative, Jaishankar has noted, “There was a violation of our territorial integrity and sovereignty, the fact that third country is doing things on sovereign Indian territory occupied by another country.” He was referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Projects being carried out by China in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Referring to the two countries’ recent invitations to third countries to participate in the CPEC projects, with a suggestion that Afghanistan could be included, Jaishankar had earlier said that any such activity by any party directly infringed on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
On the one-China policy of China, while India still follows it, and has only unofficial ties with Taiwan, it had stopped expressing support for it in bilateral documents with China over a decade ago, following differences with Beijing over issues related to Jammu and Kashmir, on which it supports Pakistan, and Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as part of south Tibet.
And so, on China’s just concluded military drills around Taiwan in response to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Bagchi has said, “Like many other countries, India too is concerned at recent developments. We urge the exercise of restraint, avoidance of unilateral actions to change the status quo, de-escalation of tensions and efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region.”
China claims the support of 160 countries for its one-China policy.
China sees its one-China policy as a “universal consensus of the international community and the political foundation” for China’s exchanges with other countries, including India.
India’s main concern at present is the need to ensure that the disengagement process in eastern Ladakh is completed as soon as possible. China, while denying having occupied Indian territory there, maintains that there are very few friction points left that need to be addressed and, in any case, the border situation should not come in the way of efforts to revive bilateral cooperation.