EAM Jaishankar flags 'border issues' with China as he takes charge

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, June 11

Four years into the military standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said there are some ‘issues pending’ on the border.

Jaishankar was interacting with the media after formally taking over as External Affairs Minister for the third term of Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance.

On being asked about China he said “in case of China, our focus will be the situation on the border there are still some issues pending and how we can resolve them”.

This is not the first time that Jaishankar has made his stance clear on the pending resolution of the military standoff with China.

India has, in the past stated that restoration of status quo as off April 2020 along LAC is prerequisite for improvement in bilateral ties.

Another pressing issue is China. Four years ago in April 2020, Beijing amassed troops, hundreds of guns, tanks, missiles and long range artillery on its side of LAC in Eastern Ladakh.

After April 2020, the Narendra Modi government ramped up troop numbers, added equipment and moved elements to send a message across the LAC.

Since then the two sides are locked in a military standoff. The situation has somewhat improved but restoration of status as in April 2020 has not been achieved.

After 21 rounds of military commander-level talks there has been partial success, and importantly all agreements on maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC were disregarded by China.

Within the security establishment, it is an accepted fact that new agreements are needed.