Relations with China are very bad… Jaishankar accepted the truth and warned – it will affect the world too

Describing India-China relations as “very bad”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the relationship is crucial for the future of Asia and will have ramifications not just for the continent but the entire world. Speaking at a think tank event in New York on Tuesday, he said the simultaneous rise of India and China presents a “very unique problem” in current global politics.

Jaishankar said, 'In a way you can say that if the world has to be multipolar, then Asia will also have to be multipolar. Therefore, this relationship…will possibly affect the future of the world as well.' Earlier he had said that '75 percent of the issues' between India and China in eastern Ladakh have been resolved.

At the think tank event, Jaishankar also explained the meaning of his statement. He explained what he meant by 75 percent of the issues being resolved. Jaishankar said, 'When I said that 75 percent of the issues have been resolved – I was asked to quantify it in a way – it was only about disengagement. So, this is a part of the problem. The main issue right now is patrolling. You know, how we both patrol up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC).'

India and China are looking to reduce tensions and normalise relations ahead of a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping during the BRICS summit next month. The two countries have stepped up diplomatic and military talks in the past few months to completely resolve the military standoff in eastern Ladakh. China's Ambassador to India Xu Feihong said last week that relations between the two countries are at a critical stage of improvement.

Jaishankar said that the patrolling system has gone haywire since 2020. He said, 'So we have been able to disengage to a large extent, resolve the disputed points, but some issues related to patrolling need to be resolved.'

The Foreign Minister said that several agreements have been signed between the two countries in which it has been discussed in detail how to maintain peace and stability on the border.

Criticising China, Jaishankar said, 'Now the problem was in 2020, despite these very clear agreements, we saw that when we were in the midst of Corona, China violated these agreements and deployed a large number of troops on the Line of Actual Control. And we responded in the same way.'

Questioning the heavy military deployment by China on the LAC before the Galwan clash, Jaishankar said, “Once the troops were deployed very close, which is 'very dangerous', there was a possibility that an accident could happen, and it did happen.”

Referring to the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, the foreign minister said, “So there was a clash, and a number of soldiers from both sides were killed, and since then, in a way, the relationship has been affected. So, unless we can restore peace, ensure that the agreements that have been signed are followed, it is obviously difficult to maintain the rest of the relationship.”