New Delhi:
While China and India insist on restoring the ties, tense for almost half a decade, Minister of Foreign Affairs said Jaishankar that “what happened in 2020 was not the way to tackle issues”. The minister's comments reminded themselves of the way in which China had unilaterally tried to change the status quo along the line of actual control or LAC.
Mr Jaishankar also acknowledged that India and China will continue to have problems in the “foreseeable future”, but said that “there are ways to tackle them” without getting into a conflict.
“We know that there will be problems between India and China, at least in the near future, but there are ways to tackle those issues, and what happened in 2020 was not the way,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs in a conversation with non-profit Asia Society.
The minister spoke about the way ties between India and China have evolved over the years. After the unilateral decision of China to change the status quo, Eastern Ladakh, which led to a military collision followed by an impasse in 2020, the ties between the two Asian giants went into a deep freezing for almost five years.
“We believe that from October 2024 the relationship has seen some improvement. What we are trying, step by step, is to see if we can rebuild part of the damage that happened as a result of the actions in 2020,” said Jaishankar.
The actions of China and the subsequent military impasse led to a feeling of betrayal and serious distrust in New Delhi. Anti-china-sentiment rose throughout the country and influences everything, from tires, business and bilateral tires, trade, technology, visas and even air travel.
It was only in October 2024, after dozens of discussing rounds, both at diplomatic and military levels that the two countries reached an agreement – to return to the status quo that applied before 2020. It was only based on this concept that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS top in Russia.
India and Tibet (China) share a limit of more than 4,400 km in two parts known as the line of actual control and the MacMohan line respectively. The LAC extends over Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim, while the Macmohan line stretches over Arunachal Pradesh.
