India-China relationship is key to Asia's future

Recently, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar commented that the relationship between Beijing and New Delhi has become important not only for the future of Asia but also for the broader global order.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. (Source: Zee News)

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who was Ambassador to China from 2009 to 2013, made the remarks on September 24, at an event titled "India, Asia and the World" organized by the Asia Society think tank in New York, on the sidelines of the high-level week of the 79th United Nations General Assembly.

Saying that New Delhi and Beijing have a "difficult history" including the 1962 conflict and the 2020 clash at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that left soldiers dead on both sides, India's top diplomat said "that has overshadowed the relationship" between the two countries.

Besides, he pointed out that the relationship between the two countries is "a very complicated issue", as India and China are two neighboring countries with a population of more than 1 billion people, both are rising and "often have overlapping areas as well as common borders".

" I think, if you look at global politics today, the parallel rise of India and China poses a very unique problem," Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar stressed.

More broadly, he called “the India-China relationship key to Asia’s future,” but said New Delhi must be prepared to face “instability and unpredictability” in the international order.

“In a way, you could say, if the world wants to be multipolar, Asia has to be multipolar. And so the India-China relationship will not only affect the future of Asia but perhaps the future of the world,” Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar was quoted by SCMP as saying.

The decades-old Himalayan border dispute between Beijing and New Delhi remains the most contentious aspect of bilateral relations.

A fragile peace had existed along the Line of Actual Control for decades since the 1962 Sino-Indian war, but was shattered by a deadly clash in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in 2020 that left at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers dead.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/ngoai-truong-an-do-moi-quan-he-an-trung-la-chia-khoa-cho-tuong-lai-chau-a-287628.html