Jaishankar said China’s failure to abide by the written agreement raised questions about its intentions.
Tokyo:
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today took a dig at China, saying Beijing had failed to abide by a long-standing written agreement with India and blaming China for the 2020 border bloodshed, the first in more than four decades.
Speaking at the think tank’s first Raisina Roundtable in Tokyo, Jaishankar also spoke about how he expected Russia’s direction toward the rest of the world to change and that it might want to have options in Asia.
During a two-day trip to Japan, Jaishankar elaborated on the changing world order, saying: “There is indeed a huge power shift in the Indo-Pacific. When there is a huge shift in capabilities, influence and possibly ambition, And then there are all the ambitions and strategic consequences that come with it.”
“Now, it doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. The reality is there and you have to face it,” he said, adding, “Ideally, we assume that everyone would say, OK, things are going on Change happens, but let’s stay as stable as possible.”
“Unfortunately, this is not what we have seen in the last decade, and in the case of China, from 1975 to 2020, it was actually 45 years without bloodshed on the border, and in 2020, there was no bloodshed on the border. Changed,” he said.
He added: “We disagree on a lot of things. When a country doesn’t abide by written agreements with its neighbours. I think you have reason to be concerned. It raises questions about the stability of the relationship and, frankly, the intentions. A question mark.”
On May 5, 2020, the border standoff in eastern Ladakh broke out after violent clashes occurred in the Pangong Lake area.
Fierce clashes in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 marked the worst military conflict between the two countries in decades, and relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply.
India has always insisted that unless peace is achieved in the border areas, India-China relations cannot be normal.
“We see it in conflicts in Europe, in Asia’s disregard for international law, in ongoing developments in the Middle East and often in weaponization,” he said earlier in prepared remarks.
Referring to the 1993 Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement (BPTA) and the 1996 Agreement on Confidence-Building Measures, he said: “Long-term agreements are not necessarily adhered to, which leaves us uncertain about the stability of the environment in which we find ourselves. “Military Domain of the Line of Actual Control in the Sino-Indian Border Area”.
Replying to a question after his speech, he said: “That’s why for India, in a changing world, our own balance, our balance with other countries is also changing. They don’t have to be acrimonious, but the balance is changing .”
On March 2, the foreign minister made a similar point while addressing a think tank interactive session in Delhi. Amid the ongoing military standoff in eastern Ladakh, Jaishankar said: “China must abide by the border management agreement and peace and tranquility must be maintained along the Line of Actual Control to improve China-India relations.”
In an apparent reference to India’s growing economic strength, he said: “We can’t go from 11th to 5th in terms of GDP and then (expect) everything to stay the same. It won’t stay the same. .”
“But how to create a new balance…in a way that reduces friction…I think today some of us are trying to help manage the global order. Some of us are taking other approaches to countries in various sectors, This also widens the scope,” the minister added.
The minister also made interesting comments about Russia and its changing practices. Noting how Russia’s relations with the West have been fractured over the past two years by the conflict in Ukraine, he said: “Economically, it means that many of Russia’s channels of engagement with the Western world, historically speaking, have ceased to exist. , Russia has always regarded premium as their main axis.”
“So today you can actually see that Russia is turning more and more to Asia. It can also turn to other continents, but I would say Asia is the most dynamic possibility for them,” he observed.
He added that the flow of Russian resource investment trade and available cooperation to Asian destinations will not be a short-term trend and will continue for several years.
Jaishankar added: “In fact, I expect Russia’s direction in the world to change, and I think that has very interesting implications for us in Asia, because like any great power, Russia wants to have options.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
