It Takes Two Hands To Clap: EAM Jaishankar On Relations With China

It takes two hands to clap and the current downturn in the bilateral relationship between India and China is not the result of New Delhi's actions, S Jaishankar said on Friday.

"The present downturn in our ties was not our creation...It was created by China, it was created by China ..violating two agreements of 1993 and 1996 and moving forces to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in violation of those agreements," ANI quoted the Union Minister as saying at the Syama Prasad Lecture: New India and the World in Kolkata.

He agreed that it has to be mutual efforts from both sides in order to sustain a diplomatic relationship while claiming that China should stop trying to unilaterally change the status quo.

"Now, if we are to have a decent relationship, I think...they need to observe those agreements, they need to stop trying to unilaterally change the status quo. They need to come to the understanding that relationships between major countries work only when they are based on mutual interest, mutual sensitivity, and mutual respect. They need to understand this. And my endeavour is to make them understand this," Jaishankar said.

He highlighted that the violations of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity, committed by China, were damaging actions.

Jaishankar said, "What has hurt our interest more is the actual violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity... and that violation was by China. As I noted, this began in 1963 and kept increasing thereafter through connectivity initiatives." "We later saw that developed into the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said. India and China have been in a military standoff since April-May 2020 and deployed heavily in the border areas. India has also deployed an almost equal number of troops along the Eastern Ladakh sector to counter any possible misadventure by the Chinese in the future.

India and China are locked in a border standoff in eastern Ladakh for over 36 months. The bilateral relationship came under severe strain following the deadly clash in Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh in June, 2020.