External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on 12 August said that India-China relations cannot be normal unless border situation is. He added that if China disturbs the peace and tranquility in border areas, it will impact the relations further.
“We have maintained our position that if China disturbs the peace and tranquility in border areas, it will impact our relations. Our relationship is not normal, it cannot be normal as the border situation is not normal,” EAM S Jaishankar said in Bengaluru on the India-China issue.
The EAM said that the big problem is the border situation and Indian military has been holding on to the ground.
“We have made substantial progress in pulling back from places where we were very close to the LOC,” he added.
Speaking on the Belt and Road Initiative, Jaishankar noted, “There was a violation of our territorial integrity and sovereignty, the fact that third country is doing things on sovereign Indian territory occupied by another country.”
Earlier, the EAM had said that the government has seen reports about third countries participating in projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Projects. He also added that any such activity by any party directly infringed on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Baghchi said India firmly and consistently opposes projects in the “so-called CPEC. “Such activities are inherently illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable, and will be treated accordingly by India,” the official statement added.
Bagchi, while responding to a question, said, ” “We have seen reports on encouraging a proposed participation of third countries in so-called CPEC projects.”
“Any such actions by any party directly infringe on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
The MEA’s response arrived amid reports that Pakistan and China have decided to invite any interested third country to join the multibillion-dollar infrastructure CPEC project.
The third meeting of the CPEC Joint Working Group (JWG) on International Cooperation and Coordination (JWG-ICC) was held on 22 July in virtual mode.
China announced the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in Pakistan worth $46 billion in 2015, under its most ambitious project ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, aimed at renewing the country’s historic trade routes in the coastal countries of south-east Asia.
