Border dispute: China tells India we’re partners not rivals but ‘relations still at low point’

Foreign ministers meet in Tajikistan, with both blaming the other side for last year’s deadly Himalayan clash
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says impasse has negatively affected ties, while Wang Yi claims China isn’t responsible

China-India relations

Teddy Ng

Published: 6:00pm, 15 Jul 2021

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There is no change to China’s policy on relations with India and it does not see the country as a rival or a threat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart after a year of tensions sparked by a deadly Himalayan border clash.

But Wang and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar both blamed the other side for last year’s fatal confrontation. Jaishankar said the impasse that followed had negatively affected ties, while Wang said China was not responsible for the clash.

The two foreign ministers met in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Wednesday on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security talks, after their last face-to-face meeting in Moscow in September.

“China-India relations are still at a low point, which is not in the interests of either side,” Wang said during the meeting, according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.

But he said Beijing’s strategic judgment on relations with New Delhi “remains unchanged”.

“Fundamental to China-India relations is that they are not a threat but offer development opportunities to each other,” he said. “They are partners, not rivals or enemies.”

However, Wang added that neither side should interfere in the other’s domestic affairs and they should respect territorial integrity.

The disputed 3,488km (2,167-mile) unmarked border between China and India has long been a source of tension. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in a skirmish in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh in June last year – the first deadly clash along their border in 45 years. There have been several rounds of disengagement since then but frictions remain. Last month, Beijing called on New Delhi to take steps to ease the situation after reports that India had sent another 50,000 troops to the border region.

The China-India border dispute: its origins and impact

Wang told Jaishankar on Wednesday that China was “not responsible” for last year’s clash, and that it was “willing to negotiate with India to seek a solution that is acceptable to both parties on issues that require an emergency response”. He also called for more bilateral cooperation.

“Both sides should refrain from taking any unilateral action in sensitive disputed areas to avoid a repeat of this confrontation due to misunderstanding and misjudgment,” he added.

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China shares video of deadly 2020 border clash with Indian troops in Galwan Valley

Jaishankar said there was an understanding both sides would continue to ensure stability on the border and neither side would take any unilateral action that could increase tensions, according to an Indian foreign ministry statement.

He said the disengagement in the Pangong Lake area earlier this year had created the conditions needed to resolve the stand-off.

But he added: “It was expected that the Chinese side would work with us towards this objective. The external affairs ministry noted however that the situation in remaining areas is still unresolved,” referring to the areas of Depsang, Demchok, Gogra and Hot Springs.

Jaishankar in the meeting also “recalled that both sides had agreed that a prolongation of the existing situation was not in the interest of either side. It was visibly impacting the relationship in a negative manner”, the statement said.

While China and India have pledged to maintain stability along their border, the military build-up on both sides has continued. India tested a new nuclear-capable medium-range ballistic missile earlier this month, the Agni-P, that is said to match China’s DF-21D “aircraft carrier killer”.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Beijing does not see India as threat or rival, Wang Yi says