External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated on Saturday that India’s relations with China are currently in a “very difficult phase” as a result of Beijing’s violation of border agreements, emphasising that the “state of the border will decide the status of the relationship.”

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2022 Panel Discussion today, Jaishankar stated that India has an issue with China.

“And the problem is that for 45 years there was peace, there was stable border management, there were no military casualties on the border from 1975,” he added in response to the host’s query.

“That changed because we had agreements with China not to bring military forces to the… we call it the border but it’s Line of Actual Control, and the Chinese violated those agreements,” Jaishankar said.

He said that “the state of the border will determine the state of the relationship, that’s natural”.

“So obviously relations with China right now are going through a very difficult phase,” the external affairs minister said, adding that India’s relations with the West were quite decent even before June 2020.

The Indian and Chinese forces clashed in eastern Ladakh after a severe conflict in the Pangong lake areas, and both sides gradually increased their deployment by bringing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy equipment.

Following a violent battle in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, tensions rose.

Last week, Jaishankar, speaking in Melbourne, said the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) arose as a result of China’s disregard for written agreements not to mass soldiers at the border, and that Beijing’s actions have become a source of “legitimate concern” for the entire international community.

According to him, the situation at the LAC has developed as a result of China’s disobedience of formal agreements with India not to mass forces at the border in 2020.

“I think it’s a subject of serious concern for the entire international community when a large country disregards written promises,” he said during a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne.

At the MSC, Jaishankar took part in a panel discussion on the Indo-Pacific, which was intended at debating the rising tensions between NATO members and Russia over Ukraine.

Asked about the situation in the Indo-Pacific, he said: “I don’t think the situations in the Indo-Pacific and transatlantic are really analogous and certainly the assumption in your question that somehow there is a trade-off and one country does it in the Pacific and so in return you do something else, I don’t think that’s the way international relations work”.

“We have quite distinct challenges, what is happening here and what is happening in the Indo-Pacific. In fact, if there was a connection by that logic, you would have had a lot of European powers already taking very sharp positions in the Indo-Pacific. We didn’t see that. We haven’t seen that since 2009,” Jaishankar said, amidst an aggressive China flexing its muscles in the region.

Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam all claim parts of the disputed South China Sea, while China claims practically all of it. In the South China Sea, Beijing has constructed artificial islands and military outposts.

In the East China Sea, Beijing is also embroiled in a maritime conflict with Japan. Both places are said to be rich in minerals, oil, and other natural resources, as well as being important commercial hubs.

Quad’s incarnation, according to Jaishankar, began in 2017.

“It’s not post-2020 development. Our relations with the quad partners — the US, Japan and Australia — have steadily improved in the last 20 years. The quad has a value in itself. It is four countries who recognise today that the world would be a better place if they cooperated. And that’s essentially what’s happening,” Jaishankar added.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the United States, and Australia finalised a long-delayed plan to form the Quad to devise a new strategy to preserve the Indo-crucial Pacific’s sea routes free of Chinese influence, despite China’s expanding military presence in the region.

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