NEW DELHI: India-China relations have been “profoundly disrupted” by the Galwan clashes in June in eastern Ladakh, he said. S Jaishankar, Minister of Foreign Affairs on Friday.
Speaking at an Asia Society event on a virtual platform, Jaishankar said the Galwan clashes, which resulted in casualties on both sides, had a major impact on China’s political and popular perceptions in India.
For the past three decades, he said, India and China had built a relationship “and a foundation for building that relationship has been peace and quiet along the Line of Royal Control.”
He said that there are multiple agreements, starting in 1993, that created the framework of that peace and tranquility, which limited the military forces who came to the border areas, how to handle the border, how border troops behave when they get close.
“So, from the conceptual level to the behavioral level, there was a kind of complete framework. Now, what we saw this year was a deviation from this whole series of agreements. The concentration of a large number of Chinese forces on the border was clearly contrary to all this.
“And when there was a sticking point that was large numbers of troops at different points very close to each other, then something tragic happened like what happened on June 15,” he said.
“To underline the enormity of that, it was the first military casualty that we had after 1975. So what it has done is, obviously, it has had a very deep public impact, a very important political impact and it has left the relationship deeply disturbed.” . said the Foreign Minister.
On video: India-China ties ‘deeply disturbed’ after Galwan clashes, says S Jaishankar
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