‘India-China relations not normal’: Jaishankar on meet with Chinese counterpart Qin Gang

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said the India-China relations are not normal and cannot be normal if peace and tranquillity along the border areas are disturbed.

On meeting with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on the sidelines Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional bloc meet in Goa, the minister said in a briefing, “…issue is that there is an abnormal position in the border areas, along the boundary. We had a very frank discussion about it.”

“We have to take the disengagement process forward. I have made it very clear, publicly as well, that India-China relations are not normal & cannot be normal if peace & tranquillity in the border areas are disturbed…,” EAM added.

During the 18th Corps Commander meet held last month, both the Indian and Chinese sides had agreed to stay in close touch and work together on a mutually acceptable solution to remaining issues in eastern Ladakh. But there was no headway in ending the standoff.

The ties between India and China have been strained after the June 2020 clash in the Galwan valley. Both the troops are locked in a standoff in a few friction points along the LAC in the last three years though they disengaged in several places following a series of military and diplomatic talks.

India has been maintaining that the relationship between the two countries should be based on “three mutuals” — mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in 2021 on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.