EAM Jaishankar: India-China ties are now 'much better than before'

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar said Wednesday India-China ties now are "much better than before" and moving in the right direction, but added there's still work to be done to normalise the relationship.

The minister said that there's now a recognition of the fact that the situation that prevailed between 2020 and 2024 wasn't in the interest of the bilateral relationship.

"It's obviously better than the last time I was here. I think the disengagement, particularly the Depsang-Demchok was important," he said speaking at a media event, adding that issues on the border remained to some extent because of the force build-up over a period of years.

The Depsang-Demchok agreement last year in October completed the process of troop disengagement at the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh, bringing to an end the military standoff that erupted in 2020. The border situation has since, as PM Modi said in a recent podcast, seen a return to normalcy even though the two sides have work to do for further de-escalation.

"I think we are moving in the right direction," said the minister. "But there were many other things which also happened during this period, some of it was a collateral of the situation; some of it was actually a carryover from the Covid era. For example, our direct flights stopped during Covid, they were not resumed. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra stopped during Covid. It did not again resume. I think there is work to be done. We are at it," he added.

"We are sort of trying to see whether a lot of this post-Covid and parallel to the border tension, the combination of these issues - how much we can progress on this," he said.


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