NEW DELHI, Nov 3: The External affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday that India and China’s recent disengagement in eastern Ladakh may open up “possibilities” of “other steps.”
Addressing the Indian diaspora in Australia, S Jaishankar said India and China have made some progress in bilateral relations. “In terms of India and China, we have made some progress. You know, our relations were very, very disturbed for reasons all of you know. We have made some progress in what we call disengagement,” he said.
He said the Indian side would have to see the direction “we go” after the disengagement. “There are very large numbers of Chinese troops deployed along the Line of Actual Control who were not there before 2020 and we, in turn, have counter-deployed. There are other aspects of the relationship which also affected during this period. So clearly, we have to see after the disengagement, what is the direction we go. But we do think the disengagement is a welcome step. It opens up the possibility that you know, other steps could happen,” S Jaishankar elaborated on the disengagement
The remarks came days after the two sides completed the disengagement exercise at two friction points in Demchok and Depsang plains in eastern Ladakh and after verification, the Indian Army resumed patrolling at the two friction points.
India and China had entered into a standoff because of the latter’s aggressive activities along the Line of Actual Control. New Delhi maintains that its relations with China will normalise only after the situation at the de-facto border returns to what it was before May 2020.
After the Ladakh agreement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia. S Jaishankar said the expectation after Mr Modi met Mr Jinping was that “both the national security advisor and myself, we would meet our counterparts.” S Jaishankar is on a five-day visit to Australia from Sunday.
(Manas Dasgupta)
