Jaishankar on resolving india china tensions ‘not looking to other countries’

Jaishankar on resolving india china tensions ‘not looking to other countries’

External affairs minister S Jaishankar said India's relations with China are ‘not doing very well’.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday ruled out a third-party mediation for India to resolve its issues with China.

‘Obviously, other countries in the world would have an interest in the matter, because we are two big countries and the state of our relationship has an impact on the rest of the world. But we are not looking to other countries to sort out what is really an issue between us,’ PTI quoted Jaishankar as saying.

‘We have views on China based on our experience. Our relations with China are not doing very well. In 2020, during the COVID, China brought very large forces to the border areas between India and China in violation of agreements that we had with China and that created tensions which led to a clash, people died on both sides,’ the minister was quoted by ANI as saying.

‘The consequences of that continue as the issue has not been fully resolved. The relationship right now with China is not good, not normal. As a neighbour, we hope for a better relationship, but that can only happen if they respect the LOC and respect agreements which they have signed in the past,’ he added.

The foreign ministers of the Quad countries, comprising the US, Japan, India and Australia, are meeting in Tokyo.

‘India is the host for this year's Quad and we are still discussing when to do the Summit...Regarding the agenda, we came up with some new ideas today but I can generally tell you that the idea for example is disaster resilience, digital, critical emerging technologies, physical connectivity, how to build capacities across the Indo-Pacific,’ Jaishankar said.

Earlier in the day, China accused the Quad alliance of ‘artificially creating tension’ and ‘inciting confrontation‘ to ‘contain’ the development of other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

‘The Quad was ‘artificially creating tension, inciting confrontation and containing the development of other countries. This is against the global trend of peace and development and stability in the Asia Pacific,’ Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was quoted by PTI as saying.