Bilateral ties 'abnormal', need to discuss border tensions candidly: S Jaishankar tells Chinese FM

On the sidelines of the G20, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said his talks with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang at their first meeting focused on addressing current challenges to the bilateral ties, especially peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

During the meeting, Jaishankar said that the current state of the bilateral relationship was “abnormal” in the context of challenges, especially that of peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

It was the first meeting between Jaishankar and Qin, which lasted about 45 minutes after the latter became the Chinese foreign minister in December 2022 amid over 34-month-long border row in eastern Ladakh.

"Met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of #G20FMM this afternoon. Our discussions were focused on addressing current challenges to the bilateral relationship, especially peace and tranquillity in the border areas," Jaishankar said on Twitter.

“We spent maybe about 45 minutes talking to each other and the bulk of our conversation understandably was about the current state of our relationship, which many of you heard me describe as “abnormal” and I think those were among the adjectives I used in that meeting,” Jaishankar said at a press conference after the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting.

He said there are real problems in the relationship that need to be looked at, “that need to be discussed, very openly and candidly between us”.

India and China have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks for disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh following actions of Chinese Army which led to a standoff in May 2020.

There has been disengagement from several friction points since the standoff following talks but there is a large presence of Chinese forces across the LAC in violation of border agreements. India has responded with appropriate “counter posture”.

The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

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.

With Agencies Inputs