India acknowledged this Wednesday that diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China have been severely affected by Beijing’s military advances four years ago in territory claimed by the two neighbouring powers.
With multiple points of friction and large presence of troops from both countries along the border line, “the challenge is to see how we resolve our differences because, at the moment, the relationship (between India and China) is quite turbulent”, acknowledged Indian Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The Indian Foreign Minister’s stance was expressed during a debate at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday night.
The statement by a member of the New Delhi government comes at a time when the two countries are in talks following a violent border standoff in 2020, which India says was triggered by Beijing’s illegal entry into the disputed territory.
The People’s Republic of China’s advances provoked an Indian response, leading to a border conflict in the western Himalayas: it was the worst conflict between the two neighbouring countries in 45 years and left at least 20 Indian soldiers killed and 76 injured.
Since that time, and in the presence of a large deployment of troops, the situation has remained tense, despite several rounds of talks aimed at reducing tensions in the area and reducing the number of troops.
“Our history with China has been difficult (…) Despite our clear agreements with China, we saw that in the midst of Covid (in 2020) China violated these agreements by moving a large number of troops to the Line of Actual Control (LAC, as the de facto border is called)”, the Indian minister explained.
The Foreign Minister said that resolving differences is India’s priority.
He said, “If the world must be ‘multipolar,’ Asia must also be ‘multipolar,’ and, therefore, this relationship can influence not only the future of Asia, but thereby the future of the world.”
Jaishankar observed that the relationship between India and the People’s Republic of China is “unique”, as they are the only two countries with more than a billion inhabitants that have “overlapping perimeters”, including a common border.
India and the People’s Republic of China have had historical conflicts over certain regions of the Himalayas, such as Aksai Chin, which is administered by Beijing and claimed by India.
The latest clash occurred in early April, when Beijing unilaterally renamed 11 places in the Arunachal Pradesh region controlled by New Delhi and claimed by the People’s Republic of China.
