India, China ties strained: Jaishankar

Singapore: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Friday that India and China are going through a “particularly bad patch” in their ties because Beijing has taken a set of actions in violation of agreements for which it still doesn’t have a “credible explanation” and it is for the Chinese leadership to answer where they want to take the bilateral relationship.

India has told China that progress in the disengagement process in eastern Ladakh was essential for the restoration of peace and tranquillity and that it is the basis for the development of overall bilateral ties. During his previous meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on September 16, Jaishankar emphasised that the two sides should work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols. “I don’t think the Chinese have any doubt on where we stand on our relationship and what’s not gone right with it. I’ve been meeting my counterpart Wang Yi a number of times. As you would’ve experienced, I speak fairly clear, reasonably understandably (and) there is no lack of clarity so if they want to hear it, I am sure they would have heard it,” Jaishankar said in response to a question at a panel discussion on Greater Power Competition: The Emerging World Order at the Bloomberg New Economic Forum in Singapore.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5 last year following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake areas and both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry. -(PTI)