...to date, we have yet to receive a credible explanation for China massing troops in the border areas
{ S JAISHANKAR } MEA
NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday outlined eight principles to help repair strained relations with China, saying the two countries were at a crossroads as last year’s events in Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) had “profoundly disturbed” their ties. Jaishankar said three so-called “mutuals” – mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests – are determining factors for the bilateral relationship and cannot be brushed aside as the two countries try to resolve the nine-month standoff on the LAC.
During his keynote address at the All India Conference of China Studies, Jaishankar reiterated concerns he raised in recent months – the sudden massing of Chinese troops on the LAC last year and Beijing’s failure to provide a credible explanation for the change in its stance – and presented a possible roadmap for tackling the stalemate in efforts aimed at disengagement and de-escalation. “Respecting the three mutuals and observing those eight principles... will surely help us make the right decisions,” he said.
He summed up the eight principles to handle ties with China as:
•Existing agreements must be adhered to in entirety.
•LAC must be strictly observed and respected, and any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo is completely unacceptable.
•Peace and tranquillity in border areas is the basis for development of relations in other domains.
While both nations are committed to a multi-polar world, there should be a recognition that a multi-polar Asia is one of its essential constituents.
•Each state will have its own interests, concerns and priorities, but sensitivity to them cannot be one-sided as relationships between major states are reciprocal in nature.
•As rising powers, each will have their own set of aspirations and their pursuit too cannot be ignored.
•There will always be divergences and differences but their management is essential to bilateral ties.
•Civilisational states like India and China must always take the long view.
Jaishankar said he didn’t have a definitive answer to the question of where bilateral ties were headed as the “events of 2020 have actually put our relationship under exceptional stress”.
Sameer Patil, fellow for international security studies at Gateway House, said,“there is a lot of talk globally on decoupling from the Chinese economy, diversifying supply chains and how the Belt and Road Initiative leads to debt diplomacy but the world is finding it difficult to change China’s behaviour...”