Union Minister of External Affairs (MEA) Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday reiterated India’s position, saying Beijing should not expect normal relations with New Delhi unless they find a solution on the border.

Speaking at the ‘Manthan: Townhall’ meeting in Nagpur, Maharashtra, Jaishankar said that China violated the agreement in 2020 and brought troops to the LAC and India has to keep its defence in check.

Advertisement

“I have explained to my Chinese counterpart that unless you find a solution on the border, if the forces will remain face-to-face and there will be tension, then you should not expect that the rest of the relations will go on in a normal manner; it is impossible,” he said, adding, “It’s not like you can fight here and also do business with us, you can’t do that.”

The MEA also accused China of violating the agreements signed between the two countries since the war in 1962.

“In the past years, relations between India and China have not been good or easy. The major reason behind that is that we have had some written agreements with them,” he added.

He further underscored that the Indo-China war happened in 1962 and it took us 14 years to send an ambassador over there.

“The war happened in 1962 and it took us 14 years to send an ambassador over there and then it took another 26 years when for the first time, our prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China,” he said.

Jaishankar also highlighted that two agreements were signed in 1993 and 1996, followed by prior agreements signed in 2005, 2006, 2012 and 2013.

“The outcome of those agreements was that, since our border is not mutually agreed on, neither of our sides can deploy our troops at the border. And they have to inform the other side if there is any movement,” he stated.

The minister further added that China violated those agreements by bringing troops to the LAC.

“In 2020, they violated this despite the agreement; they brought larger troops on the Line of Actual Control. During COVID as well, we deployed a larger army over there and moved our military and since then, the armies from both sides have been there against each other,” he added.

(With agency inputs)