New Delhi: India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said trust with China had been deeply impaired after last summer’s border clash in eastern Ladakh which resulted in the first combat deaths in 45 years. He also said at the Reuters Next conference that the relationship with the US was strengthening and that it was likely to expand under the new administration in Washington.
Tensions between India and China reached a peak in June when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in violent clashes, and many Chinese soldiers were killed, the number of which has not been disclosed yet. Both countries have gathered a large number of troops along the border. The border dispute between the two countries has emerged decades later in the form of a military crisis.
Jaishankar said, “”After 45 years, you’ve actually had bloodshed on the border. And that’s had a huge impact on public opinion and politically, really the impact of trust and confidence in India where China and their relationship is concerned. That has been profoundly disturbed.”
The two countries fought a border war in 1962, but until last summer they had largely kept a lid on tensions along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border, while expanding commercial ties.
Jaishankar said, “Now last year, for reasons which are not clear to us, the Chinese really brought an enormous military force to one part of the border. And then at the Line of Actual Control, obviously we moved up when we saw them coming and that has sort of created, friction points along the Line of Actual Control.”
India’s army chief Manoj Mukund Narwane said on Tuesday that several rounds of military and diplomatic negotiations have been held but there has been no pullback of forces from the frontline. India hopes that negotiations will lead to an amicable solution.
Jaishankar said relations with the United States were on the upswing and he was confident about its direction under the incoming Biden administration.
He further said, “When I look at many of the challenges we face, the US is going to be much more open looking for partners and I am confident about where we are going with the relationship. India has built close defence ties with America, buying more than $20 billion of weapons over the last 15 years. Together with US allies Japan and Australia, it has participated in naval exercises in the Indian Ocean which experts see as pressure on China.