External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor told China’s foreign minister Wang Yi here on Friday that there has to be an early and complete disengagement in the border areas (LAC) near eastern Ladakh for the ties between India and China to move forward.
“In talks with his Chinese counterpart, Jaishankar stressed the need for China to expedite the disengagement, saying that the border standoff is impeding the normal relations between the two nations,” sources at MEA told The Daily Guardian.
After arriving in New Delhi from Kabul on Thursday night on a two-day visit that the Chinese side did not want to announce, Wang Yi met NSA Doval and EAM Jaishankar separately in what was seen as Beijing’s bid to set the stage for normal dialogues between the two countries. But Wang was categorically told that “the bilateral relations are disturbed due to the amassing of Chinese troops and that the ties cannot be normal till the border situation is resolved. The Indian side asserted that the restoration of normal ties will require normalcy in border areas.
The issue about Wang’s Kashmir remark at an OIC meet also featured during the talks with Jaishankar at Hyderabad House. Jaishankar conveyed that India hopes Beijing would follow an independent policy in respect to New Delhi and will not allow its policies to be influenced by other countries. Jaishankar explained to him why India found that statement objectionable. “It was a subject discussed at some length. There was a larger context as well,” Jaishankar told reporters.
Wang Yi visited India shortly after MEA rejected his remarks on Kashmir at the OIC meeting in Islamabad. India had also said that other countries, including China, have no locus standi to comment on India’s internal affairs.
Jaishankar said that the Chinese Foreign Minister expressed a desire to return of the bilateral ties to normalcy, but he conveyed that India wants stable and predictable relations.
Jaishankar told media persons that his nearly three-hour talks with Wang addressed a broad and substantive agenda in an open and candid manner. “I was honest in conveying our sentiment on this issue during talks with Wang Yi,» Jaishankar said while referring to the eastern Ladakh standoff.
“While discussing border issues with Wang, Doval categorically stressed the need for complete disengagement on Line of Actual Control (LAC) to allow the bilateral relationship to take its natural course,” sources told TDG.
According to sources, Jaishankar discussed with Wang Yi the border situation during which the EAM expressed anguish
slow manner in which the disengagement is being carried out. “We discussed our bilateral relations that have been disturbed as a result of Chinese actions in April 2020,” said Jaishankar.
Speaking about his talks on the continuing friction in some areas on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Jaishankar said a lot of progress has been made in resolving other friction areas and the talks today were on how to take this forward in the remaining areas.
Jaishankar further said though India and China have held 15 rounds of military and eight rounds of diplomat-led talks and made considerable progress, they haven’t sorted out the issue in entirety. “Our effort is to sort out the issue in entirety and look at de-escalation,” he said at a media briefing.
“The challenge has been to implement the agreements on the ground. It is a work-in-progress, obviously at a slower pace than desirable. My discussions were aimed at expediting that process,’’ said the EAM. “The point is that as long as there are very large deployments in border areas which violate the 1993 and 1996 agreements, clearly the border area situation is not normal,’’ he said. Sources said the Indian side asked the Chinese minister to stick to the pacts aimed at ensuring peace along LAC.
After the talks with Wang, Jaishankar said that peace and tranquility at the border areas with China have been disturbed and the relationship (with China at present) is not normal. “No, our relationship (with China at present) is not normal, given the presence of a large number of troops in contravention of the 1993-96 agreements. So, as long as there are very large deployments, the border situation is not normal”.
On Ukraine, he said “a common element was that both agreed on the importance of immediate ceasefire and return to diplomacy and dialogue”. The issue of terror also came up and Jaishankar spoke about concerns with respect to Pakistan. Jaishankar said China has not invited India for the ‘Foreign Ministers Meeting’ of neighbouring countries of Afghanistan.
“As far as Afghanistan is concerned, India’s policy is guided by UN Security Council Resolution 2593. On the Ukraine situation, we discussed our respective approaches and perspectives but agreed that diplomacy and dialogue must be the priority”, said the EAM.
EAM Jaishankar also raised issues related with Indian students studying in China who haven’t been allowed to return citing Covid restrictions. “We hope China will take a non-discriminatory approach since it involves future of many young people,” said Jaishankar. He also said that the Chinese Minister Wang Yi had assured him that he would speak to the relevant authorities on his return on this matter.
The EAM also informed that there was no discussion on Indo-pacific and QUAD. However, both the leaders discussed China chairing BRICS. He added that there was also discussion on the BRICS summit in China, for which Beijing wants participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.