SANTO DOMINGO, 29 Apr: India wants to ensure that its relations with all countries advance without seeking exclusivity, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said as he underlined that China falls into a somewhat different category because of the currently “abnormal” nature of ties which is an outcome of a violation of border management agreements by Beijing.
Jaishankar, who arrived in Santo Domingo on his first official visit to the Dominican Republic, also said that India has seen a dramatic expansion in connectivity, contacts, and cooperation across the region. “Pakistan, however, remains an exception to this, in view of cross-border terrorism,” he said on Friday while addressing the diplomatic corps and young minds of the diplomatic school of the Dominican Republic.
“Whether it is the US, Europe, Russia, or Japan, we are trying to ensure that all these ties advance without seeking exclusivity. China falls in a somewhat different category because of the boundary dispute and the currently abnormal nature of our ties. That is an outcome of a violation of agreements regarding border management by them,” Jaishankar said.
He said that the rise of China and India in a parallel timeframe
is also not without its competitive aspects. “When in other regions bid for Africa, the Pacific or Latin America, much of what is happening can be explained as the emergence of India’s potential global footprint. In many cases, it is the result of autonomous forces such as business or mobility,” he said.
India has been slamming China’s deployment of a massive number of troops and its aggressive behaviour along the line of actual control in eastern Ladakh in violation of pacts on border management.
Earlier this week, India firmly told China that its violation of the border pacts has “eroded” the entire basis of bilateral ties, and that all issues relating to the frontier must be resolved in accordance with the existing agreements.
The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on 5 May, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake area. The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades. (PTI)
