Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference that the relations between the two countries are going through the most difficult phase right now after the violation of border agreements by China.
About two years ago, there have been violent clashes between the soldiers of the two countries over the border dispute in Ladakh. After that, 14 rounds of talks have been held between the military commanders of both the countries to call back the soldiers from there, and Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar himself is admitting that till now no concrete result of this conversation has come out.
On the other hand, trade and investment between the two countries are also increasing continuously.
In such a situation, to know and understand the answers to many questions related to the relations between India and China, BBC spoke to Professor Dr. Swaran Singh of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi.
'It was necessary to attract the attention of the West'
The BBC first asked Professor Singh why External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar openly said during the Munich conference that there is a problem in relations between the two countries, while till now the Indian government has avoided taking the name of China directly. What is the meaning of S Jaishankar's latest statement?
In response, Professor Swaran Singh said that this statement was made in Munich probably also because the attention of the western powers could be drawn to the fact that the border dispute between India and China is not over yet, so the focus should be on the relationship between the two countries. is needed.
He said that India's statement also came because "the attention of all the powers in the West has shifted to Europe due to the recent Ukraine crisis". This means that their attention has been reduced to the Indo-Pacific region. In such a situation, China has got a free hand to do whatever it wants. That's why India wants the western powers to keep an eye on this region.
Professor Swaran Singh attributed this statement to two recent developments.
He said, "First of all, there have been talks between the military commanders of the two countries on the border 14 times, but no solution could be found for it. Secondly, on February 4, in Beijing, the capital of China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping issued a joint statement giving a message to take the strategic relationship between Russia and China to a different level.
According to him, "Because of these two things, this statement of India becomes very important."
On the other hand, about External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, he said, "He has always been known to talk bluntly and directly. He has been making many such statements in the past as well.
'Solution of border dispute is more important, not business'
Despite the tension in relations, trade between India and China has increased continuously for the last several years.
This January, the China General Administration of Customs reported that its trade with India reached $ 125.6 billion in 2021. In this, India's imports have been $ 97.5 billion. At the same time, its exports were only $ 28.1 billion.
When we raised this aspect amid strained relations between the two countries, Professor Swaran Singh clearly said that there is a need to look at the latest statement of the Indian Foreign Minister from the trade and investment of both the countries.
He said, "S Jaishankar tried to send the message at the Munich conference that due to the increase in trade and investment, no one should think that India and China have become friends and all the problems between them are over now."
Professor Singh says, "Jaishankar clearly said that the situation of tension on the border will determine the nature of India-China relations. This message makes it very clear that border tensions are very important for India's relations with China at this time.
'The relationships of big powers are multicolored'
Explaining this contradiction of relations between the two countries, Professor Swaran Singh says, "The relations of big powers are always multicolored, that is, their mutual relations have many colors. There are different types of coordination in different areas. Somewhere there is tension and there are fights somewhere.
He adds, "Therefore, it should come as no surprise that India has tensions with China over the border on one side. On the other hand, business and investment between the two are increasing continuously.
To understand this type of relationship, he also talked about looking at the relationship between Britain and France or Britain and Germany or Britain and Russia or America and China.
China's issue in India's domestic politics
For the past few months, the opposition has been continuously attacking the Modi government regarding China. The issue of border dispute has also been raised in the elections. So why is China becoming so important in the internal politics of the country?
On this, Professor Swaran Singh says that questions related to foreign policy have been raised in domestic politics in the past as well.
"For nearly 20 years, foreign policy issues have come to the fore in India's domestic politics, especially during elections. When the nuclear deal was being negotiated between India and America, even at that time things related to it had jumped a lot.
He said that after the Galwan violence due to the border dispute with China, the whole country has become very aware of this issue.
Professor Singh says, "If this tension continues for two years in such an environment, then during this time there will be mention of China in politics and elections here."
And what did S Jaishankar say?
The Foreign Minister of India also said in the Munich Security Conference that the condition of relations between the two countries will be decided by the position of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In response to a question, he said, "We are facing a problem with China. The problem is that there was peace for 45 years. There was stability regarding border management. There was no casualty on the border since 1975. But this situation has changed now."
The Foreign Minister said, "We had agreements with China that what we call the border is the Line of Actual Control. Military forces will not be stationed there, but China violated those agreements.
According to S Jaishankar, "After this several rounds of talks were held between the representatives of both the countries. The process of disengagement started in February 2021 after the meeting of the foreign ministers of both countries agreed. So far 14 rounds of military talks have been held between the two countries, but no major result has come to the fore.
Earlier this month, the Indian Foreign Minister said in Australia that he discussed the border dispute between India and China with the leaders of the Quad countries. Apart from India and Australia, there are also America and Japan in the quad.
The conflict started two years ago
The relations between India and China deteriorated about two years ago due to the dispute over the Ladakh border. In 2020, a situation of serious tension arose between the two countries.
On May 1, 2020, there was a clash between the soldiers of both countries on the northern bank of Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh. Many soldiers on both sides were injured in that clash.
After that, on June 15, once again there was a skirmish between the soldiers of both the countries in Galvan Valley in which 20 soldiers of India died.
China reported several months after the incident that four of its soldiers had been killed in that clash. However, a report a few weeks ago claimed that the number of Chinese soldiers killed was much higher.
After the June incident, a standoff started between the two countries on the Ladakh border. After that both, countries gradually increased the deployment of troops and weapons in that area.
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