India, other countries feeling weight of "big" nation need to find ways to deal with it: German Envoy

The German ambassador also said that India should play the role of a "guide" in the overall global efforts to ensure a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific.

India and other countries feeling the weight of a "big and powerful nation" should sit together and see how to deal with the situation, German Ambassador Phillip Ackermann has said in a thinly veiled reference to China's increasing muscle-flexing in the region including the Indo-Pacific.

The German ambassador also said that India should play the role of a "guide" in the overall global efforts to ensure a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific.

"India has an unsolved border conflict. This is something weighing on India and it is a difficult chapter to deal with very clearly. I feel that the whole region is feeling this weight of this big and powerful nation," he told PTI.

The ambassador said all countries of the region should sit together and try to figure out "what one can do to contain an overpowerful neighbour".

His remarks came when asked about China's aggressive military behaviour in the region including along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

"I must say that I see (it), being here. You feel this tension. It is not something one should neglect or be naive about," the ambassador added.

The ties between India and China nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.