S. Jaishankar says India-China relationship key to Asia’s future, their parallel rises present unique problem

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addresses the audience at the Summit for the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, in New York on September 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The India-China relationship is key to the future of Asia and it will influence not just the continent but the entire world, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, noting that the “parallel rises” of the two countries present a “very unique problem” in today’s global politics.

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“I think the India-China relationship is key to the future of Asia. In a way, you can say that if the world is to be multi-polar, Asia has to be multi-polar. And therefore this relationship will influence not just the future of Asia, but in that way, perhaps the future of the world as well,” Mr. Jaishankar said in his address at an event titled ‘India, Asia and the World’ hosted by Asia Society and the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York on Tuesday (Sept. 24).

Mr. Jaishankar said currently the relationship between the two countries is “significantly disturbed”.

Mr. Jaishankar, who will address the General Debate of the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday (September 28, 2024), held a series of bilateral meetings with his global counterparts during the day in the U.N. Headquarters and the city.

Responding to a question on China during an interaction at the Asia Society event, Mr. Jaishankar noted that India has a “difficult history” with China, including a conflict in 1962.

“You have two countries who are neighbours, unique in the sense that they are the only two countries with over a billion people, both rising in the global order and who often have overlapping peripheries, including the fact that they have a common border. So it’s really a very complicated issue. I think, if you look today in global politics, the parallel rises of India and China, present a very, very unique problem,” he said.

Mr. Jaishankar had recently said that roughly 75% of the disengagement problems with China have been sorted out, a remark that was alluded to during the Asia Society interaction.

Referring to those remarks, the Minister said, “When I said 75% of it has been sorted out — I was asked in a way to quantify — it’s only of the disengagement. So that’s one part of the problem. The main issue right now is the patrolling. You know, how do we, both of us, patrol up to the Line of Actual Control.”

Mr. Jaishankar said the patrolling arrangements after 2020 have been disturbed. “So we’ve been able to sort out much of the disengagement, the friction points, but some of the patrolling issues need to be resolved.”

He said once we deal with the disengagement, “there is the larger issue as both of us have brought a very large number of troops up to the border. So there is what we call the de-escalation issue, and then there is the larger, the next step is really, how do you deal with the rest of the relationship?” Mr. Jaishankar gave a historical perspective of the relationship and of the border dispute, saying the “entire 3500 kilometre-border between India and China is disputed”.

“And so you make sure the border is peaceful so that other parts of the relationship can move,” he said.

He added there were a series of agreements between the two countries that went into greater and greater detail on how to make sure the border remained peaceful and stable.

“Now the problem was in 2020, despite these very explicit agreements, we saw that the Chinese — we were all in the middle of Covid at that time — moved a large number of forces in violation of these agreements to the Line of Actual Control. And we responded in kind,” he said.

“Once troops were deployed very close up, which is “very dangerous”, it was likely a mishap could happen, and it did happen,” Mr. Jaishankar added.

Referring to the 2020 Galwan clash, the Minister said, “So there was a clash, and a number of troops died on either side, and that has since, in a sense, overshadowed the relationship. So until we can restore peace and tranquillity on the border and ensure the agreements signed up to are adhered to, it’s obviously difficult to carry on with the rest of the relationship.”

Mr. Jaishankar said the focus for the last four years had been to, in the first instance, at least disengage the troops, meaning that they go back to the camp, the military bases from which they traditionally operate.

“Because right now, both sides have troops deployed forward,” he said.