India strives for relationship with China that is built on mutual sensitivity, respect and interest: Jaishankar

India continues to strive for a relationship with China based on mutual respect, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, even as the communist country claimed that “positive momentum” had returned to the bilateral relations as the border situation had been “overall stable”.

The External Affairs Minister’s comment on the state of relations between the countries came after Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong claimed that that the situation along the disputed boundary between the two nations was “switching to normalized management and control” following the recent withdrawal of troops by the two sides from the Gogra-Hotsprings area or the Patrolling Point 15 on the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.

“We continue to strive for a relationship with China, but one that is built on mutual sensitivity, mutual respect, and mutual interest,” Jaishankar told journalists in Washington during an interaction at the end of his visit to the United States.

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“Where Indian and US interests converge, and they do, I think, is on the stability and the security, the progress, the prosperity, the development of the Indo-Pacific. Because you have seen, even in the case of Ukraine, a war fought a great distance away, has the potential, has the capability of actually creating turbulence across the world in terms of implications for the daily lives of people,” he said.

Sun on Tuesday virtually addressed an event held to celebrate the 73rd Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Beijing’s diplomatic mission in India circulated the text of his speech on Wednesday.

Jaishankar said the world today is very globalised, extremely interlocked, and interdependent.

“It is therefore to say that we have skin in the game is an understatement. I think we have vital stakes today in ensuring that the larger region is stable, that it is secured; that there is cooperation and that the focus is on the right things,” he said.

“To my view, what we have seen in recent years, is an India whose interests and inclinations extend sufficiently eastwards into the Pacific and the United States, which is open enough to work flexibly and comfortably with partners going beyond the orthodox limitations in the past of treaties and alliances,” he said.

Jaishankar said the world has changed and everyone appreciates that no single country by itself can shoulder the responsibilities or the burdens of international peace and common good.

“To me, in a globalised world, countries are conscious today that the world is not unipolar, it’s not bipolar, they need there to be multiple players, they need to work together, there are common interests at stake out here. The rest of the region actually looks at the more capable countries to pull their weight and work together. I think that's the kind of situation,” he said.

“India-US is one part of it, we have a bigger gathering, coordination in terms of the quad, but there are still bigger ones. If you look at two new initiatives, the Indo Pacific Economic Framework and the Indo Pacific initiative for maritime domain awareness, they extend beyond them. They are open and they have multiple players out there,” he noted.

In November 2017, the US, Australia, India and Japan gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amidst China’s growing military presence in the strategic region.

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. Beijing is also involved in a maritime dispute with Japan over the East China Sea.

“I believe in defining international affairs and in positive terms, that's usually how diplomacy is done. So, I would urge you to think of it as really, betterment or strengthening of the Indo Pacific as a shared objective between us,” Jaishankar said.

Apart from claiming that the “phase of emergency response” along the disputed boundary between India and China was over and the current border situation was “overall stable”, Beijing’s envoy to New Delhi also put forward four proposals to “maintain the recovery momentum” to bring the relations “back on track” – promoting mutual understanding and trust as well as win-win cooperation, properly handling differences and sensitive issues and strengthening coordination and collaboration.

Jaishankar had said on September 14 that the withdrawal of troops by both sides from the PP 15 had meant “one problem less on the border”. He had acknowledged the latest progress in the protracted negotiation between the diplomats of the two nations and the senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA, but, at the same time, had also sought to underline that the stand-off along the LAC – the de facto boundary between two nations – had not ended yet.

(With PTI inputs)