PolicyForeign affairs
Stable border is 'common sense' for normal ties with China, says Jaishankar
The external affairs minister said India and China still have no agreed border, while Piyush Goyal said India is open to doing business with Beijing on fair terms.
Key points
- S. Jaishankar said India and China do not have an agreed border, an issue going back decades.
- He said the border areas have settled down to a great extent since 2024.
- Piyush Goyal said the last word has not yet been scripted on rebuilding ties with China.
India and China still do not have an agreed border, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, and Beijing must accept that a stable and peaceful boundary is the price of a normal relationship.
“We don’t have an agreed border between India and China,” Jaishankar said in a conversation with John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg, at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi. “This is not a new issue; it’s been going on for multiple decades.”
He pointed to a long stretch of calm. “From 1975 till 2020, a good 45 years, no blood was shed on that border. The last time there were fatalities was in 1975,” he said. “In this period, India-China relations did grow.”
‘A no-brainer’
The message to Beijing, Jaishankar said, was simple. “The point we make to the Chinese is: ‘If you want a normal relationship, if the rest of the relationship is to move, it’s common sense,’” he said. “It’s a no-brainer that the boundary has to be stable, that we need peace and tranquillity in the border areas.”
He said the situation on the ground had improved. “As the border areas are settling down, they have settled down to a great extent since 2024; the relationship is commensurately moving towards normalcy,” he said.
Asked whether India would allow more Chinese investment if an early harvest agreement were reached, he said talks were going on, and that investment and market access would be dealt with separately from the boundary question.
Goyal: open, on fair terms
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, speaking on a panel on supply chains and technology partnerships at the same forum, set out the conditions for doing more business with China.
“We are open to all countries around the world as long as we get a fair deal, as long as we are ensured continuity in the engagement, and as long as the geopolitical situation does not deteriorate,” he said. “We are working to develop the relation with China once again, but the last word has not yet been scripted on this journey.”
A run of meetings
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the two countries had kept talking at several levels. “On India-China relations, we have had a series of meetings over the last year or so,” he said. “We had a summit-level meeting when President Xi was here for the BRICS Summit; he met with our Prime Minister.”
He said the government would keep the public informed “as we go ahead”.
Taken together, the remarks set out the government’s line: trade and investment with China can grow, but only at a pace that the situation on the border allows. They come two days after Beijing called India’s names for 28 places in Ladakh “illegal”, an objection the MEA dismissed.