Jaishankar, Wang differ on way forward for India-China ties

While India’s External Affairs Minister said that the continuing impasse was ‘visibly impacting the relationship in a negative manner’, China’s Foreign Minister called on both sides to ‘place the boundary issue in an appropriate position’.

While India’s External Affairs Minister to China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday that the continuing impasse along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was “visibly impacting the relationship in a negative manner”, the Chinese Minister offered a starkly different message, calling on both sides to “place the boundary issue in an appropriate position”. Mr. Jaishankar reiterated India’s view in their talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting — their first meeting since September last year in Moscow — that the LAC crisis would have a bearing on broader ties. “Assessing the overall relationship, the External Affairs Minister emphasised that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas has been the foundation for the development of ties since 1988,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) quoted him as saying, adding that attempts to change the status quo last year “disregarded commitments under the 1993 and 1996 agreements” and “have inevitably affected ties”. Mr. Wang, in contrast, said in China’s view the boundary should be kept “in an appropriate place” and it should be addressed while “expanding” other “positive aspects” of the relationship, an argument that Delhi has rejected.