‘India-China relationship has never been easy’, says EAM Jaishankar

Highlighting the India-China relationship that has gone through cycles of conflict and cooperation over 75 years, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said the ties between the two nations have not been easy. 

Speaking at the ‘Discussion at Council on Foreign Relations’ in New York, Jaishankar said, “I was the ambassador in 2009, right after the global financial crisis, till 2013. I saw the change of guard in China, and then I came to the US. It has never been an easy relationship. It always had its share of problems.”

“It had a war in 1962, it had military incidents after that. But after 1975, there's never been a military, a combat fatality on the border,” the minister said as quoted by ANI. 

“One of the pleasures of dealing with China is that they never quite tell you why they do things, so you often end up trying to figure it out. There is always certain ambiguity," he added. 

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India and China's strained relationship has been fueled by recent Chinese provocations, including releasing the 2023 edition of its “standard map”, staking a claim over Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin region, and denial of visas to Indian athletes in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

"One of the contradictions and it was very visible at the G20. You have a much sharper East-West polarization, whose immediate, but not only cause is the conflict in Ukraine. You have particularly because of Covid, but not only because of Covid, a very deep North-South divide. And I would say we are one of the few countries, who have the ability to actually bridge both these issues,” Jaishankar noted. 

He further emphasized the number of groupings and blocs that India has become a part of lately, according to ANI reports. 

“It’s interesting if you look at the last decade. We have become members of more organizations. QUAD, after 2008 was revived in 2017. It's been upgraded steadily, it has become at the level of President in 2021."

“The most recent is the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor. We have a grouping called the I2U2, which involves India, Israel, the US, and the UAE. We joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. We have a few more organizations of a more local proximate nature," Jaishankar said. 

(With ANI inputs)