New Delhi: The disengagement of Indian and Chinese troops on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has opened the way for other steps to improve bilateral relations though the two sides will have to address various issues that arose from the four-year military standoff, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.
The two countries reached an agreement on October 21 on patrolling in Ladakh sector of the LAC, and this paved the way for disengagement and resolution of issues related to the face-off that began in April-May 2022. Indian troops are now conducting patrols at the two “friction points” of Demchok and Depsang to verify the disengagement of forces.
Jaishankar said during an interaction with the Indian community in the Australian city of Brisbane that India and China have made “some progress” after a phase when their relations were “very, very disturbed” because of the standoff on the LAC.
“We have made some progress in what we call disengagement, which is when troops were very close to each other, with the possibility that could lead to some untoward incident,” he said.
“So clearly, we have to see after the disengagement, what is the direction we go. But we do think the disengagement is a welcome step, it opens up the possibility that other steps could happen.”
In this context, Jaishankar pointed to the decision made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in the Russian city of Kazan on October 23 that the national security advisers (NSAs) and foreign ministers of both countries would meet to decide the next steps to resolve the border issue and normalise bilateral ties.
However, Jaishankar said disengagement is only “one part of the issue” and there are other aspects of the standoff that still have to be addressed.
“The fact is, there are very large numbers of Chinese troops deployed along the Line of Actual Control, who were not there before 2020. And we in turn have counter-deployed. And there are other aspects of the relationship which also got affected during this period,” he said.
India and China arrayed more than 50,000 troops each in Ladakh sector of the LAC during the standoff, which took bilateral relations to their lowest point since the 1962 border war. India also took a number of other steps, such as banning Chinese apps, reducing visas for Chinese nationals and restricting investments from the Chinese side.
Responding to a question on what the thaw in India-China ties could mean for the Quad, which includes India, Australia, Japan and the US, Jaishankar said the grouping has a “bigger purpose” as it brings together four democracies and market economies, and nations with a record of global contributions that are working on a common agenda that encompasses connectivity and climate forecasting to fellowships.
Pointing to the decline in the global contributions of the US, he said: “We have to ask ourselves, do we leave the deficit unaddressed? Is it addressed by somebody with a very different vision of the global order, or do those who have a sort of a common interest and a common vision come together?”
He added, “The Quad is really option three, which is four countries, who feel on many basic issues that they have a common viewpoint, working together.”
Alongside a shift from the West, India has focused on Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific under its “Look East” and “Act East” policies because more than half of the country’s trade flows eastwards, he said.
Jaishankar is on a six-day tour that will take him to Australia and Singapore. On Monday, he will inaugurate India’s fourth consulate in Australia at Brisbane. He will also co-chair the Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra.