China claims India doesn't link border row with development of ties

New Delhi says Jaishankar told Wang that stand-off along LAC impacted relations

India does not consider the development of its relations with China to be dependent on settlement of the dispute over border between the two nations, Beijing claimed after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had a meeting with the communist country’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow.

India “does not want to go backwards” in its relations with China, a press release issued by the government of China quoted Jaishankar telling Wang during the bilateral meeting they had on the side-line of a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the capital of Russia on Thursday.

The press release of the Chinese Government was circulated early Friday – just about an hour before the joint statement outlining the five-point consensus Jaishankar and Wang reached was issued.

A source in New Delhi, however, quoted Jaishankar telling Wang that while India recognized that settlement of its boundary dispute with China would require time and effort, it was also clear that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity on the border areas was essential to the forward development of bilateral relations. He also conveyed to Chinese Foreign Minister that the recent stand-off along the disputed boundary had inevitably impacted the development of the bilateral relationship and hence an urgent resolution of the current situation was in the interest of both nations, added the source.

New Delhi has been maintaining over the past few weeks that China must withdraw its troops from the territory of India and restore the status quo ante along the LAC for bringing the relations between the two nations back on track. Jaishankar, himself, articulated New Delhi’s position, stating that the future of India-China relations could not be separated from the situation in the border areas. Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla too recently stated that business could not be as usual between India and China unless and until the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) pulled back troops to restore the status quo ante along the LAC.

The statement circulated by the Chinese Government also quoted Jaishankar telling Wang that India did not want “tension to escalate” along its disputed boundary with China. He was also quoted saying that India’s policy toward China had not changed and that New Delhi believed that China’s policy toward India had not changed either.