External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated on Saturday that India’s relations with China are currently in a “very difficult phase” as a result of Beijing’s violation of border agreements, emphasising that the “state of the border will decide the status of the relationship.”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2022 Panel Discussion in Munich, Mr Jaishankar stated that India has an issue with China.
“And the problem is that there was peace for 45 years, there was stable border management, and there were no military casualties on the border from 1975,” he added in response to the host’s query.
“That changed because we had agreements with China not to bring military forces to the… we call it the border, but it’s the Line of Actual Control,” Mr Jaishankar explained. “The state of the border will naturally dictate the state of the relationship,” he remarked.
“Clearly, relations with China are going through a very difficult phase right now,” the foreign minister said, adding that India’s relations with the West were good even before June 2020.
The Indian and Chinese forces clashed in eastern Ladakh after a severe conflict in the Pangong lake areas, and both sides gradually increased their deployment by bringing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy equipment.
Following a violent battle in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, tensions rose.
Mr Jaishankar, who was in Melbourne last week, said the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) arose as a result of China’s disregard for written agreements not to mass troops at the border, and that Beijing’s actions have become a source of “legitimate concern” for the entire international community.
According to him, the situation at the LAC has developed as a result of China’s disobedience of formal agreements with India not to mass forces at the border in 2020.
“I think it’s a subject of serious concern for the entire international community when a large country disregards written promises,” he said during a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne.
Mr. Jaishankar took part in a panel discussion at the MSC on the Indo-Pacific, which was intended at debating the rising tensions between NATO members and Russia over Ukraine.
“I don’t think the situations in the Indo-Pacific and transatlantic are really analogous,” he said when asked about the Indo-Pacific situation. “Certainly, the assumption in your question that somehow there is a trade-off and one country does it in the Pacific in exchange for you doing something else, I don’t think that’s the way international relations work.”
“What is happening here and what is happening in the Indo-Pacific are two very different challenges.” Indeed, if there was a link based on that logic, a number of European powers would have already taken aggressive stances in the Indo-Pacific. That was something we didn’t notice. “We haven’t seen that since 2009,” Jaishankar said, referring to China’s aggressive posture in the region.
Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam all claim parts of the disputed South China Sea, while China claims practically all of it. In the South China Sea, Beijing has constructed artificial islands and military outposts.
In the East China Sea, Beijing is also embroiled in a maritime conflict with Japan. Both places are said to be rich in minerals, oil, and other natural resources, as well as being important commercial hubs.
Mr Jaishankar said quad’s incarnation began in 2017. “This isn’t a development until after 2020.” In the previous 20 years, our relations with the quartet partners — the United States, Japan, and Australia — have progressively strengthened. The quad is valuable in and of itself. It is four countries who have realised that if they worked together, the world would be a better place. And that’s exactly what’s going on,” Mr Jaishankar continued.
In November 2017, India, Japan, the United States, and Australia finalised a long-delayed plan to form the Quad to devise a new strategy to preserve the Indo-crucial Pacific’s sea routes free of Chinese influence, despite China’s expanding military presence in the region.
