India’s Relations With China Going Through A Very Difficult Phase

India’s relations with China going through a very difficult phase, Jaishankar said at the Munich Security Conference.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that India’s relations with China are going through a very difficult phase after it violated border agreements.

He also said that the status of the border will determine the status of relations between the two countries.

The External Affairs Minister was addressing the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2022 discussion here. In response to a question, he said that India has a problem with China.

The problem is that for 45 years from 1975 there was peace on the border, there was stable border management, there were no soldiers casualties.

Now that has changed because we had agreements with China not to deploy military forces along the border or the Line of Actual Control, but China has violated those agreements.

The border standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh began after violent clashes in the Pangong Lake areas on June 15, 2020, with both sides gradually increasing their troops and weapons.

Jaishankar participated in a discussion on the Indo-Pacific at the MSC, aimed at broadening discussions on the escalating tensions between NATO countries and Russia over Ukraine.

Earlier, Jaishankar, who arrived in Germany on Friday to attend the MSC, met the foreign ministers of Germany, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Georgia, and Austria and held talks with them.

He had detailed discussions with German Foreign Minister Annalina Bayerbach on developments in the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine, and the situation in Afghanistan.

Jaishankar also met his Iranian counterpart H Amirabdullahiyan and had fruitful discussions on bilateral economic cooperation, Afghanistan, and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The JCPOA is known as the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

Jaishankar also met Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and they agreed to intensify preparations for the Strategic Partnership Council meeting.