Melbourne/New Delhi: The tensions with China on the LAC have arisen because Beijing chose to mass troops on the border in complete “disregard of written commitments”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. Taking questions during a joint press briefing with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne in Melbourne on Saturday, Jaishankar also said that China’s transgression in 2020 in Galwan in disregard of written commitments comprise an “issue of legitimate concern for the entire international community”. To a question whether he had discussed the issue during the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting with Payne, Japan’s Yoshimasa Hayashi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Jaishankar said he had raised the issue. “Yes, we had a discussion on India-China relations because it was part of how we briefed each other about what was happening in our neighbourhood; and it’s an issue on which a lot of countries legitimately take interest, particularly if they are from the Indo-Pacific region. “Because the situation has arisen because of the disregard by China in 2020 of written agreements with us, not to mass forces at the border. “So, when a large country disregards written commitments, I think it is an issue of legitimate concern for the entire international community.” His comments come days after India announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics after China, in an obvious political statement targeting India, deputed a Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) soldier who was involved in a bloody skirmish with the Indian Army at the Galwan Valley as a torch bearer at the Winter Olympic Torch Relay. Earlier, in November last year, the EAM had said that India and China are going through “a particularly bad patch” in their relationship because Beijing has taken actions “for which they still don’t have a credible explanation”, and that the Chinese leadership has to take a call on where they want to take the bilateral ties. He made the comments at the Bloomberg New Economic Forum in Singapore. He had also said that India’s interests would be “definitely served with a much closer relationship with the United States”. In reference to the border conflict with China in Eastern Ladakh on the LAC, Jaishankar had said in November at the panel discussion that he has spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi a number of times “clearly”, and there is “no lack of clarity” on what India has conveyed to the Chinese side. “I don’t think the Chinese have any doubt on where we stand on our relationship, and what’s not gone right with it. “I’ve been meeting my counterpart Wang Yi a number of times… I speak fairly clearly, reasonably understandably, there is no lack of clarity. “So if they want to hear it I am sure they would have heard it; but the issue where is India positioned, yes, some of it is about China, because they are our neighbour, and we are going through a particularly bad patch in our relationship, because they’ve taken a set of actions in violation of agreements, for which they still don’t have a credible explanation; and that appears to indicate some rethink about where they want to take our relationship, but that’s for them to answer,” he had said. UNI RN
