‘India-China ties have seen some improvement, de-escalation next priority’: S Jaishankar in Lok Sabha

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that India-China ties had seen some improvements and added that they remain committed to engaging with Beijing to arrive at a fair, mutually acceptable framework for a boundary settlement.

Jaishankar made the remark while making a statement in Lok Sabha regarding ‘recent developments in India’s relations with China.’

“The recent developments that reflect continuous diplomatic engagements have set Indo-China ties in the direction of some improvement,” said Jaishankar.

Stating that India-China ties have been abnormal since 2020 when peace, tranquillity in border areas were disturbed due to Chinese actions, the Union Minister added that amassing of troops by China in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020 resulted in face-offs at number of points.

A few weeks ago, Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi deliberated on the next steps in India-China ties in the first high-level engagement weeks after the militaries of the two sides disengaged from friction points of Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh.

Jaishankar said the next priority would be to consider de-escalation to address the amassing of troops along LAC.

“Immediate priority was to ensure disengagement from friction points, this has been fully achieved,” he said.

What Jaishankar said in Lok Sabha

— The House is cognisant of the fact that China is in illegal occupation of 38,000 km² of Indian territory in Aksai Chin as a result of the 1962 conflicts and the event that preceded it. Furthermore, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 km² of Indian territory to China in 1963, which has been under its occupation since 1948.

— India and China have held talks for multiple decades to resolve the boundary issue. While there is a Line of Actual Control, it does not have a common understanding in some areas.

— We remain committed to engaging with China through bilateral discussions to arrive at a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for a boundary settlement.”

— Members would recall that the amassing of a large number of troops by China along the LAC in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020 resulted in face-offs with our forces at a number of points. The situation also led to the disruption of patrolling activities.

— It is to the credit of our armed forces that despite logistical challenges and the then prevailing Covid situation, they were able to counter-deploy rapidly and effectively."

— After the Galwan Valley clashes, we addressed a situation that not only saw fatalities but events that needed heavy weaponry deployment.