China disregarded border pacts with India, bilateral ties seem difficult: EAM S Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar claims that China disregarded the border pacts with India, casting a shadow on the bilateral ties as he asserted that a lasting relationship cannot be a one-way street and there has to be mutual respect. 

Jaishankar, who arrived here on the first leg of his six-day visit to South America aimed at boosting overall bilateral ties with the region, made the remarks during his interaction with the Indian community here on Saturday.

While responding to a question on Sino-India ties, Jaishankar said India and China have agreements going back to the 1990s which prohibit bringing troops to the border area.

“They (Chinese) have disregarded that. You know what happened in the Galwan Valley a few years ago. That problem has not been resolved and that is clearly casting a shadow,” Jaishankar said.

Chinese and Indian troops are engaged in a prolonged standoff in Eastern Ladakh. The two sides have so far held 16 rounds of Corps Commander Level talks to resolve the standoff which erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) were key for the overall development of bilateral ties.

Asked for his reaction to Jaishankar's comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here that as a Chinese leader put it, "Unless China and India are developed, there will be no Asian Century. No genuine Asia-Pacific Century or Asian Century can come until China, India and other neighbouring countries are developed."

"China and India are two ancient civilisations, two major emerging economies and two neighbouring countries, we have far more common interests than differences. Both sides have the wisdom and capability to help each other succeed instead of undercutting each other," he said.

To a question on whether China will hold talks with India on the disengagement at the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh, Wang said, "China and India maintain smooth communication over the boundary question. And our dialogue is effective."

He expressed the hope that India will work with China to act upon the important common understandings between the leaders of the two countries, i.e. "China and India are not each other's threats, but cooperation partners and development opportunities, bring China-India relations back to the track of steady and sound development at an early date and safeguard the common interests of China, India and our fellow developing countries," Wang said.

Commenting on Jaishankar’s Asian Century remarks, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University here, told the state-run Global Times newspaper that the expression "Asian Century" has served as a driving force for China and India to normalise and strengthen their relations since 1988, and India's External Affairs Minister's use of the term in stressing the need for a friendly bilateral relationship is worth praising.

The expression "Asian Century" was first used by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. In 1988, when he met with then-Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, he pointed out that unless the two countries [China and India] are developed, there will be no Asian Century, Qian said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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