India-China ties to determine fate of solidarity in Asia: EAM Jaishankar

India had never subscribed to any "clash of civilisations" theory, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told his counterpart in the Chinese Government, Wang Yi, stressing that the example set by the relations between the two neighbouring nations would determine the fate of solidarity in Asia.

Jaishankar’s remarks during his meeting with Wang was in sharp contrast with what the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat said on Thursday. Gen Rawat referred to eminent political scientist Samuel Huntington’s "clash of civilisation" theory at an event in New Delhi and said that Chinese and Islamic civilisations were coming closer to jointly take on the western civilisation.

The External Affairs Minister had a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister in Dushanbe on the sideline of a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) late on Thursday. He told Wang that China should avoid viewing its bilateral relations with India from the perspective of its ties with third countries, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi.

His comment apparently came amid continuing concerns in New Delhi over China’s “all-weather friendship” with India’s arch-rival Pakistan. China’s growing belligerence along its disputed boundary with India, particularly the continuing military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh since April-May 2020, brought the relations to a new low. It prompted India to drift closer to China’s strategic rival, the United States.

Read | China appoints new army commander to head troops along Indian border

China too said that it agreed with what India said about avoiding viewing bilateral relations through the lens of a third country.

“Both China and India are important countries in Asia. The development of China-India relations has its own logic. China-India relations have never targeted any third party,” a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government said in Beijing on Friday.

Jaishankar’s call to China to avoid viewing its relations with India from the perspective of its ties with other countries also came just ahead of the first in-person summit of the Quad in Washington DC on September 24.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit, which will be hosted by US President Joe Biden. The ‘Quad’ is a coalition India, Japan, Australia and the US forged to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region. New Delhi resisted pressure from Washington DC to turn the Quad into a NATO-like military alliance for Asia, but the Biden Administration earlier this week announced a new and separate trilateral coalition of the US, Australia and the United Kingdom focussing on security cooperation against China.

Jaishankar told Wang that the two sides should work towards completely resolving the stand-off along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols.

India and China earlier this year mutually pulled out troops from the face-off points on the northern and southern bank of Pangong Tso (lake) as well as on Gogra Post. The soldiers of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, however, are still engaged in a stand-off in other areas along the LAC.

Jaishankar told Wang that it was necessary to ensure progress in the resolution of the remaining issues so as to restore peace and tranquillity along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. He noted that peace and tranquillity in the border areas had been an essential basis for progress in bilateral relations. The two sides agreed that military and diplomatic officials of the two sides should meet again and continue their discussions to resolve the remaining issues at the earliest.

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