'Bilateral ties 'abnormal', need to discuss border tensions'

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of G20 meeting here and conveyed that the current state of bilateral relationship was "abnormal" in the context of challenges especially that of peace and tranquility in the order areas.

This was the first meeting between the two ministers and the meeting lasted about 45 minutes.

"I met the Minister on the sidelines of the conference this afternoon. It's our first meeting after he took over as Foreign Minister. We spent maybe about 45 minutes talking to each other and the bulk of our conversation understandably was about the current state of our relationship, which many of you heard me describe me as "abnormal" and I think those were among the adjectives I used in that meeting," Jaishankar said at a press conference after the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting. He said there are real problems in the relationship that need to be looked at, "that need to be discussed, very openely and candidly between us".

"That's what we sought to do today. We also had a brief discussion on what was happening in the G20 framework. The thrust of the meeting was on our bilateral relationship and the challenges in bilateral relationship, especially that of peace and tranquility in border areas," Jaishankar said.

Qin Gang was appointed China's new Foreign Minister in December last year. India and China have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks for disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh following actions of Chinese Army which led to a standoff in May 2020.

The two countries held 26th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) last month with a senior Ministry of External Affairs official travelling to Beijing.

During the WMCC meeting, the two sides reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of India-China border areas and discussed proposals for disengagement in the "remaining areas in an open and constructive manner, which would help in restoration of peace and tranquillity along the LAC in Western Sector and create conditions for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations".

"To achieve this objective in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, they agreed to hold the next (18th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date. The two sides agreed to continue discussions through military and diplomatic channels," a MEA statement had said.

There have been disengagement from several friction points since the standoff following talks but there is a large presence of Chinese forces across the LAC in violation of border agreements. India has responded with appropriate "counter posture".