Tokyo, July 29
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday ruled out any role for a third party in India’s border dispute with China, saying the two neighbours have an issue and it is for them to find a way out.
“We are not looking to other countries to sort out what is really an issue between India and China,” Jaishankar said while responding to a series of questions at a press conference in Tokyo.
Jaishankar, who is here to attend a Quad foreign ministerial meeting, also said that India’s relationship with China is not good and it’s not doing well.
“We have a problem, or, I would say, an issue between India and China…I think it is for two of us to talk it over and to find a way,” he said.
“Obviously, other countries in the world would have an interest in the matter, because we are two big countries and the state of our relationship has an impact on the rest of the world. But we are not looking to other countries to sort out what is really an issue between us,” he said, recalling his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi twice this month.
Jaishankar and Wang met last week in the Laotian capital where they participated in the meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
During their meeting, they agreed on the need to give strong guidance to complete the disengagement process following the military standoff in eastern Ladakh in May 2020.
India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.
Jaishankar’s remarks came amid the dragging border row in eastern Ladakh that entered its fifth year in May.
On July 4, Jaishankar and Wang met in the Kazakh capital city of Astana on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The Indian and Chinese militaries have been locked in a standoff since May 2020 and a full resolution of the border row has not yet been achieved though the two sides have disengaged from a number of friction points.
Meanwhile, As India will host the Quad Summit later this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that the agenda of the summit is still under discussion while adding that some new ideas encompassing disaster resilience and physical connectivity and how to build capacities across the Indo-Pacific are being considered.
Addressing the media briefing, Jaishankar said, “India is the host for this year’s Quad and we are still discussing when to do the Summit.”
On being questioned about
Quad calls for concerted
the agenda for the summit, Jaishankar said, “Regarding the agenda, we came up with some new ideas today but I can generally tell you that the idea for example is disaster resilience, digital, critical emerging technologies, physical connectivity, how to build capacities across the Indo-Pacific.”
Elaborating on building capacities across the Indo-Pacific, EAM added, “There are two ideas, one is how to do global good, and the second is how do you give countries the ability to make more choices freely based on merits. The choice is for them to make. Our contribution will be to build in them the capacity to evaluate and make those choices.”
Notably, Foreign Ministers of Australia, India and Japan and the Secretary of State of the United States of America held a meeting in Tokyo, Japan on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment, common principles, and capacities to preserve and strengthen the international order for the global good.
“We look forward to India hosting the next Quad Leaders’ Summit later this year, and to the United States hosting the next Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting in 2025,” a joint statement after the meeting held in Tokyo said.
In a White House briefing held on July 25, US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby responding to a question about President Joe Biden attending the Quad Summit being hosted by India later this year said, “We’re still committed to there being a Quad leaders’ summit this year. But there’s nothing on the calendar right now for it.”
Notably, the US presidential elections are scheduled to be held in November this year.
Biden had been instrumental in bringing together his counterparts in the Quad for a meeting in March 2021 that was held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The US President raised the level of the summits of the four-nation grouping to include national leaders instead of just meetings of foreign ministers.
On September 24, 2021, the White House hosted the first in-person Quad summit and since then the Quad countries have been holding summits on a rotational basis annually. India is scheduled to hold the next summit this year.
