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‘Strive for relationship built on…’ Jaishankar on India-China relations

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is on a 10-day visit to the US where he met with UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres while meeting with other foreign dignitaries on the sidelines of UNGA (REUTERS)

Jaishankar who completed his four-day visit to Washington Wednesday said, "What I have said, to my mind represents accurate policy assessment of where the state of our relations is. We continue to strive for a relationship with China, but one that is built on mutual sensitivity, mutual respect and mutual interest,"

In response to a question on how India and the US plan on dealing with a belligerent China Jaishankar said the two countries have a shared objective for the betterment and strengthening of the Indo-Pacific.

He adds, “Where Indian and US interests converge, and they do, I think, is on the stability and the security, the progress, the prosperity, the development of the Indo-Pacific. Because you have seen, even in the case of Ukraine, a war fought a great distance away, has the potential, has the capability of actually creating turbulence across the world in terms of implications for the daily lives of people,"

Adding further he said, “It is therefore to say that we have skin in the game is an understatement. I think we have vital stakes today in ensuring that the larger region is stable, that it is secured; that there is cooperation and that the focus is on the right things,"

“I believe in defining international affairs and in positive terms, that's usually how diplomacy is done. So, I would urge you to think of it as really, betterment or strengthening of the Indo Pacific as a shared objective between us," Jaishankar noted

While informing that the current world order is very globalised, extremely interlocked, and interdependent Jaishankar said “To me, in a globalised world, countries are conscious today that the world is not unipolar, it’s not bipolar, they need there to be multiple players, they need to work together, there are common interests at stake out here. The rest of the region actually looks at the more capable countries to pull their weight and work together. I think that's the kind of situation,"

The EAM futher added, “India-US is one part of it, we have a bigger gathering, coordination in terms of the quad, but there are still bigger ones. If you look at two new initiatives, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Indo-Pacific initiative for maritime domain awareness, they extend beyond them. They are open and they have multiple players out there,"

In November 2017, the US, Australia, India, and Japan gave shape to the long-delayed proposal of establishing the Quad to develop a new strategy to maintain the independence of the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific, in light of China's expanding military presence in the strategic region

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It has also built artificial islands and military installations in the region while also being involved with Japan in a maritime dispute over the East China sea.

With inputs from PTI

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