'Now that disengagement is complete, focus should be on de-escalation': Jaishankar on India-China ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that after the completion of the disengagement process along the LAC, India and China should now focus on de-escalation in the region.

“I see disengagement as disengagement; nothing more, nothing less. If you look at our current situation with China, we have an issue where our troops are uncomfortably close along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which required us to disengage,” the minister said at a private event.

Jaishankar also asserted that after the disengagement process, it is only “reasonable” to expect that ties between the two countries have improved a little.

The understanding between India and China on October 21 was the last of the disengagement agreements, Jaishankar said.

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“So that with its implementation, the disengagement part of the problem is at rest,” he added.

Last month, India and China concluded the disengagement of their respective troops in Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh along the LAC after the two countries agreed to resolve the four-year-long border row.

The two sides also resumed patrolling activities in the two areas after a gap of almost four-and-a-half years.

In his remarks, Jaishankar said de-escalation should be the next step following the completion of the disengagement process.

“Where the disengagement will lead us, it is a reasonable supposition that there will be some improvement in the ties,” he said.

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On the overall India-China ties, Jaishankar delved into various factors and said it is a “complicated” relationship.

Meanwhile, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will likely meet his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun next week on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus (ADMM-Plus). The meeting will be the first ministerial-level interaction since the disengagement exercise.

With inputs from PTI