‘India-China ties at crossroads... tensions continue on LAC’: S Jaishankar

The India-China relationship is at the crossroads and New Delhi cannot think of cooperating with Beijing in other areas as long as tensions continue on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday.

The external affairs ministry added that the process of disengagement of Indian and Chinese troops at friction points in Ladakh sector remains "unfinished" and that full restoration of peace and tranquillity in border areas alone will lead to progress in bilateral ties.

Jaishankar's remarks, made during a virtual interview at the FT-Indian Express webinar, came in the wake of calls by the Chinese leadership for setting aside the border standoff that began a year ago and focusing on cooperation in other areas such as trade and investment.

He accused China of moving away from the consensus on stabilising the border, which emerged from former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's groundbreaking visit to China in 1988. This consensus led to important border agreements in 1993 and 1996 that created three decades of peace and tranquillity on the LAC, he noted.

"I think the relationship is at a crossroads and which direction we go depends on whether the Chinese side would adhere to the consensus, whether it would follow through on the agreements which we both have done for so many decades," Jaishankar said, adding: "Because what is very clear in the last year is that border tensions cannot continue with cooperation in other areas."

"If there is continuing friction at the border, then it is going to tell on the relationship," he said.