India-China ties not normal, border issues key: Jaishankar post talks with Wang

After talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi today that lasted for three hours, External Affairs Minister S Jashankar dubbed the ties between India and China as “not normal”, saying that the “current situation is a work in progress” due to friction at the border.

“So long there are very large deployments, border situation is not normal. We still have ongoing friction areas, where some progress has been made in resolving some friction areas, including Pangong Tso. Our discussion today was how to take this forward. There have been 15 rounds of talks,” he told the media after the conclusion of his talks.

When he was asked where the India-China ties lie at this juncture, he responded, “If you ask me if our relationship today is normal, then my answer is 'no it is not normal' (because of the Chinese deployments). Our effort today is to sort out the issue in its entirety."

With regards to Ladakh, the minister said there are still ongoing friction areas and there was "progress in other areas", adding, “There should not be attempts to unilaterally change status quo."

He said the relationship was based on “three mutuals—- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity, and mutual interest”.

India also raised the issue of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s references to Kashmir at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Islamabad.

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“I referred to it. I explained to him why we found that statement objectionable. It was a subject discussed at some length. There was a larger context as well,” he said.

“I conveyed that we hope that China would follow an independent policy in respect of India and not allow its policies to be influenced by other countries and other relationships,” he added.

The Indian minister further said that Afghanistan and Ukraine issues were also discussed at length during the talks.

“So far as Afghanistan is concerned, India's policy is guided by the UN Security Council Resolution 2593. On Ukraine, we discussed our respective approaches & perspective but agreed that diplomacy and dialogue must be the priority,” he said.

When asked for reasons surrounding the secrecy of the Chinese minister’s visit, Jaishankar said, “Chinese did not want the visit to be announced earlier.”

Earlier in the day, Wang Yi met Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who asserted that an "early and complete disengagement of troops" at points of friction along the border was key to restoring normal ties between the two countries.

Doval also called for removing "impediments" to allow bilateral ties to "take the natural course" and stressed that "actions should not violate the spirit of equal and mutual security".

Watch | Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar