Jaishankar plays down border row with China

India and China can manage the differences that are likely to arise from time to time over their contested border, India’s Foreign Secretary, S. Jaishankar, said yesterday, commenting on recent tension sparked by Chinese road-building.

In early June, according to the Chinese interpretation of events, Indian guards crossed into China’s Donglang region and obstructed work on a road on a plateau adjoining the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim.

Troops from the two sides then confronted each other close to a valley controlled by China that separates India from Bhutan — a close Indian ally — and gives China access to the so-called Chicken’s Neck, a thin strip of land that connects India to its remote northeastern regions.

Delivering a lecture in Singapore, Jaishankar said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping reached consensus on two points at a meeting last month on the sidelines of a regional summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

‘Stability factor’

The two nuclear-armed Asian neighbours must not allow their differences to become disputes and should ensure their relations are a factor of stability amid global uncertainty, Jaishankar said, summarising the two points.

“This consensus underlines the strategic maturity with which the two countries must continue to approach each other,” he added at an event hosted by the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Asked about the recent confrontation in the Himalayan region, Jaishankar said the neighbours had experience dealing with such situations.

“It is a long border,” Jaishankar said. “As you know, no part of the border has been agreed upon. It is likely that from time to time there are differences.” He added, “It is not the first time that has happened. And when such situations arise, how we handle it...is a test of our maturity. I see no reason why, when having handled so many situations in the past, we would not be able to handle it.”