In an interactive session with the media, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the border situation continues to be a matter of pain in India-China relations. He further said that if China disturbs the peace in the border areas, it will further affect the bilateral understanding between the two countries.
Jaishankar asserted that India-China relations have deteriorated majorly due to the border situation and the developed disturbances between the two countries have kept the Indian Army on the ground.
Responding to a question about the poor relations with China after the skirmish in Ladakh two years ago, he said, “We have had 15 rounds of talks at the level of (corps) commanders and experts are also participating along with the commanders. We have made some progress, some significant progress in terms of the sides where they are very close.”
“There are still some places where they haven’t moved back, but we have consistently said that if China disturbs the peace in the border areas, it will affect relations,” he said.
“I have said in 2020 and 21 and continue to say in 2022 – our relations are not normal. It cannot be normal if the border situation is not normal and the border situation is not normal now,” Jaishankar said.
“It’s something that has been a very firm and strong position by the government that has been implemented on the ground by the armed forces. Obviously, because our situation is so close, it’s a very tense situation, it’s a dangerous situation. ” That’s why we are in talks,” the minister said.
S Jaishankar also touched upon topics such as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which he said is a violation of our territorial integrity and sovereignty, the fact that a third country is operating on sovereign Indian territory occupied by another country.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in his bite said against CPEC, he called the economic corridor an illegitimate encroachment on Indian land. “Such activities are inherently illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable, and will be dealt with in accordance with India’s
