India-China issues expected but can be addressed without conflict, says India foreign minister

NEW DELHI: India and China will have issues in the “foreseeable future” but there are ways to address them without getting into a conflict, India’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

The two countries reached an agreement in October regarding patrolling along their Himalayan border, thawing a standoff that began in 2020 when 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in clashes.

The dispute impacted several aspects of bilateral ties, from trade and technology to air travel.

“We know that, between India and China…at least in the foreseeable future, there will be issues, but there are ways of addressing those issues, and what happened in 2020 was not the way,” Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a conversation with non-profit Asia Society.

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India Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also said last week that “trust, enthusiasm, and energy” would return to the equation with China, and that the focus of the countries was to ensure difference do not turn into disputes.

“We feel that from October…the relationship has seen some improvement…what we are trying, step by step, is to see if we can rebuild, undo some of the damage which happened as a result of the actions in 2020,” Jaishankar said.

India and China share a 3,800 km (2,400 mile) border that has been disputed since the 1950s, and have previously gone to war over it.

Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia last year – their first formal talks since 2020 - and agreed to boost communication and cooperation, and resolve conflicts to improve ties.