'India-China international issues will be solved bilaterally': EAM S Jaishankar at USISPF

India on Thursday reiterated that New Delhi has maintained a very substantial relationship with China and asserted that there were some international issues that would be solved bilaterally. The statement from India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar came in response to a question over New Delhi's stand on handling China’s ascent. 

Jaishankar was holding a virtual discussion with the US Ambassador to India, Frank Wisner, at an event organised by the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) on September 30. "India has a very substantial relationship with Beijing and Quad is for things, not against someone. We shouldn't be railroaded into a negative discourse and read from someone else's script," India's External Affairs Minister said when asked about New Delhi and Washingon's perspective on handling the perplexing issue of the emergence of Communist power.

Further, the Indian diplomat noted that Beijing has had a significant influence on the global order but suggested that countries respond with respect to their own interests and concerns. "As participants in the international order we need to assess Beijing's movement and respond to that in the light of our own interest," stressed Jaishankar during the US India Strategic Partnership Forum meeting. He highlighted that the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a strategic dialogue between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, aimed to discuss the natural consequence of events in the region, "not a gang to pitch one's personal agenda".

Jaishankar attacks Pakistan on Afghanistan issue 

Apart from discussing Chinese aggression, EAM S Jaishankar noted the recent discussion between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Washington on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session has opened up many more new possibilities.

The top Indian diplomat said both New Delhi and Washington are on the same page on various issues associating with the current developments in Afghanistan. He asserted both India and America are the victims of terrorism nurtured by the same Talibani group which has been funded by some of the neighbouring countries. Notably, Jaishankar was pointing fingers at Pakistan without naming the Imran Khan-led government. "There will be issues on which we will agree more, there will be issues on which we will agree less. Our experiences in some respects are different from yours (the US). We have been victims of cross-border terrorism ourselves from that region and that has shaped in many ways our view of some of the neighbours of Afghanistan," he said during the USISPF Annual Leadership Summit.

(With agency inputs, Image: @DrSJaishankar/Twitter)