No nuclear arms race between us,China ‘disturbed’ foundation of bilateral ties says India’s External Affairs Minister
India and China Two Asian behemoths who are currently at loggerheads over a bitter border standoff over a year ago, are not in any race for nuclear arms, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday. “I don’t believe there is a nuclear arms race between India and China. China became a nuclear power in 1964, India in 1998… The evolution of the Chinese programme has a much larger dynamic than us,” Jaishankar said at the Primakov Institute of World Economy & International Relations in Moscow.The External Affairs Minister said that there have been a lot of concerns regarding the bilateral ties between the two countries since last year, since Beijing has not observed the agreements on the border issue, thereby “disturbing” the foundation of the relationship.“I would say for the last 40 years we had a very stable relation with China. China emerged as the second largest trade partner… But for the last one year, there has been a lot of concern about the relationship because China has not observed agreements that it had signed up to when it came to our border. After 45 years, we actually had a border incident with casualties. And peace and tranquility on the border, for any country, is the foundation of a relationship with a neighbour. So naturally the foundation has got disturbed, so has the relationship,” Jaishankar, who is in Russia on a three-day visit, said.India and China are locked in a fierce military standoff at various friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh since May 2020. However, both sides in February withdrew troops and arsenal from the Northern and Southern banks of the Pangong Tso Lake following a series of diplomatic and military-level talks.The two countries are currently engaged in dialogue to disengage troops in the remaining friction points, as India has particularly emphasised for disengagement in the Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang areas.As per military officials, both sides currently have around 50,000-60,000 troops along the LAC in the high altitude sensitive region.
Source: Times Now
