New Delhi : Ahead of his expected talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, External
Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the situation in eastern Ladakh is “very serious” and said it calls for
“very very deep conversation” between the two sides at a political level.
The external affairs minister also said the state of the border with China cannot be de-linked from the
state of the overall relationship with the neighbouring country.
Jaishankar was speaking at an interactive session by The Indian Express newspaper on Monday.
“The state of the border cannot be de-linked from the state of the relationship. I wrote it before that
unfortunate incident happened in Galwan,” Jaishankar said referring to his newly published book ‘The
India Way’.
Tensions escalated manifold along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after the Galwan
Valley clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed. The Chinese side also suffered
casualties but it is yet to give out the details. According to an American intelligence report, the number of
casualties on the Chinese side was 35.
“If peace and tranquility on the border is not a given, then it cannot be that the rest of the relationship
continues on the same basis, because clearly peace and tranquility is the basis for the relationship,” the
External Affairs Minister said.
Jaishankar is set to meet Wang on September 10 in Moscow on the sidelines of the meeting of the
foreign ministers of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
“Exactly what I will tell him, obviously I am not going to tell you,” Jaishankar said when asked what
message he will deliver to his Chinese counterpart.
He, however, said the broad principle around which his position would be constructed would be about
the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility along the border for the overall development of ties
which has been reflected in the last 30 years of the relationship.
The minister also talked about the number of pacts between the two countries on the border management
since 1993, saying they clearly stipulate keeping forces at a minimum level along the border and largely
shaped the behaviour of the armed forces.
“If these are not observed, then it raises very very important questions…. I note that this very serious
situation has been going on since the beginning of May, this calls for very very deep conversation
between the two sides at a political level,” he added.
Jaishankar said there were problems left over from history as well. “We have problems left over from
history which continue to be an overhang on the relationship,” he said, calling the current standoff as of “a
very different order”.
