India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a round of bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Dushanbe. The meeting was on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The meeting focused on diffusing tensions between the two countries along the Line of Actual Control(LAC)
Dr. Jaishankar conveyed a firm message that there are not many options for China to explore, regarding the dispute. According to his tweet about the meeting, Jaishankar reiterated India’s stance on the matter and made it abundantly clear that a “unilateral change of status quo” is not acceptable to the Government of India. The tweet added that a full restoration of the April 2020 status quo is a necessity for return of normalcy in the India-China relations.
India has been facing Chinese aggression along its eastern Ladakh stretch of LAC since the month of May in 2020. The border dispute saw its first physical confrontation, between Indian & Chinese soldiers in Galwan Valley, in the month of June, the same year. India lost 40 of its bravehearts defending the territorial integrity of the motherland. China bore the brunt of the skirmish as well, with an unconfirmed number of fatalities.
The Galwan episode pinned national sentiments with the border dispute and made it a point of no retreat for either country. This national sentiment, coupled with the continuous attacks on the Modi government by the opposition for ceding land to China, is likely why Dr. Jaishankar put forth India’s demand in a loud and clear manner and left next to no room for the Chinese to get their way. Moreover, this tough stance by the Indian Government needs to continue in the future while dealing with China’s expansionist policies. India needs to take on the dragon one front at a time.
