The India-China relationship is crucial not only for the future of Asia but also for the world, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, highlighting that the simultaneous rise of the two countries presents a unique challenge in global politics.
At an event titled "India, Asia, and the World," hosted by the Asia Society and the Asia Society Policy Institute, Jaishankar emphasized that the relationship between India and China is essential for the future of the continent. "I think the India-China relationship is key to the future of Asia. In a way, you can say that if the world is to be multi-polar, Asia has to be multi-polar. And therefore this relationship will influence not just the future of Asia, but in that way, perhaps the future of the world as well," Jaishankar said.
He also said that the current relationship between the two countries is "significantly disturbed" and described India’s complex history with China, including the 1962 conflict. "You have two countries who are neighbors, unique in the sense that they are the only two countries with over a billion people, both rising in the global order and who often have overlapping peripheries, including the fact that they have a common border. So it's really a very complicated issue. I think, if you look today in global politics, the parallel rises of India and China present a very, very unique problem," he said.
Referring to the ongoing border disengagement efforts, Jaishankar clarified his earlier remarks, stating, "When I said 75 percent of it has been sorted out - I was asked in a way to quantify - it's only the disengagement. So that's one part of the problem. The main issue right now is the patrolling. You know, how do we, both of us, patrol up to the Line of Actual Control."
He added that while much of the disengagement has been achieved, "some of the patrolling issues need to be resolved." He also pointed out the broader issue of de-escalation, as both countries have stationed a large number of troops at the border. "Once we deal with the disengagement, there is the larger issue as both of us have brought a very large number of troops up to the border. So there is what we call the de-escalation issue, and then there is the larger, the next step is really, how do you deal with the rest of the relationship?"
Jaishankar provided a historical perspective, stating, "The entire 3500-kilometer border between India and China is disputed," and emphasized the importance of maintaining peace at the border so that other aspects of the bilateral relationship could move forward. However, he noted that in 2020, China violated several agreements by moving a large number of forces to the Line of Actual Control during the pandemic. "Now the problem was in 2020, despite these very explicit agreements, we saw that the Chinese - we were all in the middle of Covid at that time - moved a large number of forces in violation of these agreements to the Line of Actual Control. And we responded in kind."
The minister referred to the 2020 Galwan clash, in which troops from both sides lost their lives, describing it as an incident that has overshadowed the bilateral relationship. "So until we can restore peace and tranquility on the border and ensure the agreements signed up to are adhered to, it's obviously difficult to carry on with the rest of the relationship."
In his concluding remarks, Jaishankar emphasized that the focus over the past four years has been to at least disengage the forward-deployed troops. "Because right now, both sides have troops deployed forward," he said.
(This story has been slightly reworked from an auto-generated PTI feed.)
