New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that India-China relations were severely damaged by Beijing’s breach of agreements to maintain peace and stability on the Line of Actual Control and that it was going through the most difficult phase. During an online interaction with the Australian think tank Loy Institute, the foreign minister said that the Chinese side has given five measures to bring thousands of troops on LAC in Ladakh sector in violation of agreements.
Amid the ongoing border tension between India and China for 8 months, Jaishankar made it clear that despite the level of interaction between the two countries, the basic issue could not be resolved that “agreements are not being followed” Jaishankar said, “We are probably in the most difficult phase in our relations with China, certainly in the last 30-40 years or so.” He said the martyrdom of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galvan Valley. Referring, he said that for the first time since 1975 soldiers have died on LAC.
Jaishankar said, “The relationship has deteriorated, as all positive changes in island relations in the last 30 years, including China becoming India’s second largest trade partner and tourism, depended on both sides of the border dispute.” Agreeing to maintain peace on the border. Pointing to several agreements signed since 1993 not to bring large numbers of troops on LAC, Jaishankar said, “Now for some reason, for which China has given us five different explanations, the Chinese violated it. is.”
The foreign minister said, “The Chinese actually brought thousands of soldiers on LAC in Ladakh with complete military preparations.” Naturally it will have a very bad effect on the relationship. ”He said that there was face-to-face and debate among the soldiers, but there was never such a big violation of mutual understanding. He also said that the soldiers of the two countries were very close to each other this year and it is not surprising that something very wrong happened.
Jaishankar also said that reshaping the relationship is a very big issue, although communication between the two sides is not an issue. He said that personally he has spoken to the Chinese counterpart and met at the meeting of the Confederation Cooperation Organization, there have also been meetings and talks between the Ministry of Defense, military commanders and diplomats. Jaishankar said, “Dialogue is not an issue, the problem is that we have agreements, but they are not being followed.”