Military & Diplomacy Stood Grounds with China: Jaishankar
Image credit X.com @Drsjaishankar
Jaishankar on China says it will take time to rebuild trust & willingness
By Raisina Correspondent
New Delhi, October 26: Military and diplomacy stood their grounds in the last four years to achieve the disengagement with China in eastern Ladakh, said Union Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday. The minister said that it will take time to rebuilt trust and willingness to work with China.
Speaking in Pune at a private varsity, Jaishankar said that the agreement for the military disengagement in eastern Ladakh led to the meeting of the political leadership of India and China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held the first delegation-level meeting in Kazan in Russia after a gap of five years this week.
“From 2020, the situation on the border had been very disturbing which had negative impact on relations between India and China. Since September 2020, efforts for negotiating for solutions began, and the immediate task was disengagement,” said Jaishankar in response to a question on India-China relations.
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The minister stressed that the Indian and the Chinese military had been too close to each other in the eastern sector. “God forbid, anything could have happened with the two militaries in such close positions,” added Jaishankar.
Indian and Chinese military had violently clashed in 2020 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. The clash had left trails of casualties on both sides. Afterwards, the two militaries stepped up their deployments in the region.
“On October 21, we came to agreement that the patrolling in Depsang and Demchok will resume in manner that used to be before the 2020 clash,” added Jaishankar. The minister stated that disengagement is the first part of the overall normalization of the relationship between the two countries.
“The people need to be patient. Right now, the first part of the process is underway,” said Jaishankar. Reports said that India and China have begun the exercise of disengagement in the Depsang and Demchok sectors. The satellite images confirmed that disengagement is taking place on both the sides, said reports.
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“The de-escalation of the troop buildup is the next stage for the two countries to negotiate. The larger issue is the border management and settlement of the boundary issue,” said Jaishankar, adding that blocking of patrolling of the areas has now been addressed.
He stated that the disengagement was an important step for the affirmation of the exercise and for the leadership level meeting to take place. “It is still a bit early. We have to wait for the settlement of the issues after four years of disturbed border. It will take time to rebuild trust and willingness to work,” stressed Jaishankar.
He underlined that “it is important today we have reached where we have…” “This was possible because of the determined efforts on our path to stand and make our point,” added Jaishankar.
He stated that the military had been in the region in an unimaginable position to defend the border and the diplomacy did its work. “Secondly, we have improved our infrastructure. This helps in the deployment of the military. In earlier years, we neglected the requirement of infrastructure. Now, we are spending five times more resources than what was being spent decades ago to boost the infrastructure in the border areas,” said Jaishankar.
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