S Jaishankar, Foreign Minister.
Geneva: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has given big news on the issue of India-China border dispute in eastern Ladakh. He claimed that ‘problems related to the withdrawal of troops’ have been resolved by about 75 percent, but the bigger issue is the increasing militarization on the border. In a dialogue session with the think tank ‘Geneva Center for Security Policy’ in this Swiss city, Jaishankar said that the conflicts in the Galvan Valley in June 2020 affected India-China relations in a holistic way. He said that no one can say after the violence on the border that the rest of the relations are untouched by it.
The Foreign Minister said that talks are going on between the two sides to find a solution to the problem. He said, “Now those talks are going on. We have made some progress. You can roughly say that about 75 percent of the problems related to the withdrawal of troops have been resolved.” Jaishankar said in response to a question, “We still have to do some things.” He said that but the bigger issue is that both of us have brought our armies closer to each other and in this sense the border is being militarized. The Foreign Minister said, “How to deal with this? I think we have to deal with it. Meanwhile, after the clash, it has affected the entire relationship because you cannot say after the violence on the border that the rest of the relationship is untouched by it.”
Resolving the dispute will improve the relationship
The Foreign Minister said that if the dispute is resolved, the relationship can improve. He said, “We hope that if there is a solution to the issue of withdrawal of troops and peace returns, then we can consider other possibilities.” There is a deadlock between Indian and Chinese troops at some conflict points in eastern Ladakh, while both sides have completed the withdrawal of troops from many areas after extensive diplomatic and military talks. India has been constantly saying that its relations with China cannot be normal until there is peace in the border areas. Terming India-China relations as ‘complex’, Jaishankar said that in the late 1980s, relations between the two countries were normal and the basis for this was that there was peace on the border.
Galwan conflict was dangerous
Jaishankar said, “Obviously the basis of good relations, even normal relations, is that there should be peace and harmony on the border. In 1988, when the situation started improving, we made many agreements, which brought stability to the border.” The Foreign Minister said, “What happened in 2020 was a violation of many agreements for some reasons that are still not completely clear to us; we can speculate on this.” He said, “China actually deployed a very large number of troops on the Line of Actual Control on the border and naturally in response we also sent our troops. It was very difficult for us because we were in the phase of Kovid lockdown at that time. “
Jaishankar described the developments as very dangerous. Referring to the Galwan Valley clashes, he said, “We could see straight away that this was a very dangerous development because the presence of a large number of troops in a high altitude area and in extreme cold could lead to an accident and this is exactly what happened in June 2022.”
China disturbed the peace and sent troops
The foreign minister said the issue for India was why China disturbed the peace and sent those troops and how to deal with this situation. He said, “We have been talking for about four years and the first step of this is what we called the withdrawal of troops (disengagement), under which their troops go back to their normal operating bases and our troops return to their normal operating centers and where necessary, we have a system of patrolling because we both patrol that border regularly. As I said, this is not a legally delineated border. ” Jaishankar came here on the last leg of his three-day visit. He also visited Saudi Arabia and Germany. (Language)
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