India-China Disengagement 75% Complete, Says EAM Jaishankar

Geneva: External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar has said that India and China have sorted out 75 per cent of disengagement and re has been some progress on border talks with Beijing. Union Minister me se remarks at Geneva Centre for security policy.  

Speaking on India-China relations, Jaishankar said, “It (India-China) is a very complex relationship... When any country rises it has a ripple effect on neighbourhood... We did not have an easy relationship in past... We h a series of agreements which stabilised border…”

“What happened in 2020, was in violation of multiple agreements Chinese moved a large number of troops to Line of Actual Control. We in response moved our troops up... Some progress on border talks with China. 75 per cent of disengagement problems are sorted out... If re is a solution to disengagement and re is a return to peace and tranquillity, we can look at or possibilities... economic relationship with China has been very unfair...”

Galwan affected India-China ties 

In an interactive session at a think-tank in this Swiss city, Jaishankar said Galwan Valley clashes of June 2020 affected "entirety" of India-China ties, asserting that one cannot have violence at border and n say rest of relationship is insulated from it.

external affairs minister said negotiations between two sides to find a solution to problem are underway.

"Now those negotiations are going on. We me some progress. I would say roughly you can say about 75 per cent of disengagement problems are sorted out," he said at Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

"We still have some things to do," Jaishankar said, responding to a question.

But re is a bigger issue that both of us have brought forces close up and in that sense, re is a militarisation of border, he said.

"How does one deal with it? I think we have to deal with it. In meanwhile, after clash, it has affected entirety of relationship because you cannot have violence at border and n say rest of relationship is insulated from it," he said.

external affairs minister indicated that relationship can improve if re is a resolution to row.

"We hope that if re is a solution to disengagement and re is a return to peace and tranquility, n we can look at or possibilities," he said.

Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a standoff in certain friction points in eastern Lakh even as two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless re is peace in border areas.

India-China share complex relation, says Jaishankar 

Describing India-China relations as "complex", Jaishankar said ties were kind of normalised in late 1980s and basis for it was that re would be peace at border.

" basis obviously for a good relationship, I would say even for a normal relationship, was that re would be peace and tranquility in border. After things started to take a better turn in 1988, we h a series of agreements which stabilised border," he said.

"What happened in 2020 was in violation of multiple agreements for some reasons which are still entirely not clear to us; we can speculate on it." " Chinese actually moved a very large number of troops to Line of Actual Control at border and naturally in response, we moved our troops up. It was very difficult for us because we were in middle of a Covid lockdown at that time," he said.

Jaishankar described development as very dangerous.

"Now we could see straight away that this was a very dangerous development because presence of a large number of troops in se extreme heights and extreme cold in near proximity could le to a mishap. And that's exactly what happened in June 2022," he said, referring to Galwan Valley clashes.

external affairs minister said issue for India was that why China disturbed peace and tranquility and why y moved those troops and how to deal with this very close-up situation.

"We have now been negotiating close to four years and first step of that is what we called disengagement which is ir troops go back to ir normal operating bases and our troops go back to ir normal operating bases and where required we have an arrangement about patrolling because both of us patrol regularly in that border as I said it is not a legally delineated border." Jaishankar is here on final leg of his three-nation tour that also took him to Saudi Arabia and Germany.

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