India turns down Chinese offer of normalization of relations, keeping border issue on backburner

EOI, KOLKATA, APRIL 29, 2023 ; India has once again turned down the pet Chinese offer that the two countries normalize relations while the issue of illegal Chinese occupation of disputed territories on the border is kept on the backburner.

External Affairs Minister of India S. Jaishankar on Saturday made it clear while speaking in Santo Domingo that the current “abnormal” nature of ties between India and China was an outcome of the violation of border management agreements by Beijing, according to a PTI report.

"Whether it is the US, Europe, Russia, or Japan, we are trying to ensure that all these ties advance. China falls ina somewhat different category because of the boundary dispute and the currently abnormal nature of our ties. That is an outcome of a violation of agreements regarding border management by them," Jaishankar said.

Even after Defence Minister of India Rajnath Singh had firmly told Defence Minister of China General Li Shangfu during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meet in Delhi earlier this week that the violation of the border pacts by China had eroded the entire basis of bilateral ties, the Chinese Defence Minister issued a statement in Beijing on Friday that the situation at the border was “generally stable” and both sides should put the boundary issue in an “appropriate position” and promote its transition to “normalized management".

It may be mentioned that, according to reports, in the latest round of talks between the armies of the two countries on de-escalation and disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh the Chinese army has refused to vacate areas occupied by it in the Depsang Plains, a place strategically important for India