India, China agree to establish hotline to exchange views
India has told China that disengagement at all friction points is necessary to contemplate de-escalation of troops in eastern Ladakh even as the foreign ministers of the two countries agreed to establish a hotline for “timely” communication and exchange of views.
In the first high level contact after the two countries agreed early this month to disengage from the Pangong Tso area in eastern Ladakh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a telephonic conversation on Thursday that peace and tranquillity on the border is essential for development of bilateral relations. The armies of the two sides last week concluded withdrawal of troops and weapons from the North and South banks of the Pangong lake.
Releasing details of the 75-minute conversation, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday that China was told that bilateral relations have been impacted severely over last year. The tense military standoff in eastern Ladakh erupted on May 5 last. “The two ministers agreed to remain in touch and establish a hotline,” the ministry said.
“A prolongation of the existing situation was not in the interest of either side. It was, therefore, necessary that the two sides should work towards early resolution of remaining issues. It was necessary to disengage at all friction points in order to contemplate de-escalation of forces in this sector. That alone will lead to the restoration of peace and tranquillity and provide conditions for progress of our bilateral relationship,” the MEA statement said.
Wang said China and India should firmly follow the right path of mutual trust and cooperation between neighbouring major countries, and not go astray with suspicion and distrust nor fall back on a road of “negative retrogression”.
China was told that bilateral relations have been impacted severely over last year
NEW DELHI: India was strong and resolute when it came to handling the border issue and dealt with it in an effective manner, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday in an apparent reference to the standoff between India and China.
Similarly, India also dealt effectively with the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact by fashioning its own response after listening to everyone, he said at the inaugural session of the ‘Asia Economic Dialogue’ organised by the Pune International Centre. “Last year, we had three big developments which all impacted us nationally.
They impacted the world as well — one was COVID-19, the second was its economic impact and the third was the challenges that we found on our border which obviously had implications,” the External Affairs Minister said. “In each of these cases, I would assert to you that they were difficult challenges. There were a lot of debates as indeed there should be, there were tough decisions, lot of second guessing and a lot of free advice given around. I would say, as a government we listened to everything and then we did what we thought was the right thing to do,’ he asserted in his remarks during the session titled ‘Resilient Global Growth in a Post-Pandemic World.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne also participated in the session. Elaborating on India’s responses to the three key developments last year, Jaishankar said that in the case of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government went for an early lockdown, induced a degree of social discipline and set up truly impressive health infrastructure in a very short space of time.
“I mean to create 16,000 dedicated centres and to go from zero to becoming an exporter of PPE masks, ventilators and testing kits, I think, frankly, was a very big deal,” he said.
As a government we listened to everything and then we did what we thought was the right thing to do — S Jaishankar, External Affairs MInister