PTI

Sao Paulo (Brazil), August 21

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has mentioned China has disregarded the border pacts with India, casting a shadow on the bilateral ties as he asserted {that a} lasting relationship can’t be a one-way road and there needs to be mutual respect.

Jaishankar, who arrived right here on the primary leg of his six-day go to to South America aimed toward boosting total bilateral ties with the area, made the remarks throughout his interplay with the Indian neighborhood right here on Saturday.

While responding to a query on Sino-India ties, Jaishankar mentioned India and China have agreements going again to the Nineties which prohibits bringing troops to the border space.

“They (Chinese) have disregarded that. You know what happened in the Galwan Valley a few years ago. That problem has not been resolved and that is clearly casting a shadow,” Jaishankar mentioned.

Chinese and Indian troops are engaged in a chronic standoff in Eastern Ladakh. The two sides have up to now held 16 rounds of Corps Commander Level talks to resolve the standoff which erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent conflict within the Pangong lake areas.

Jaishankar, who was the Indian Ambassador to China from 2009 to 2013, mentioned a relationship can’t be a one-way road and mutual respect needs to be there in an effort to maintain it.

“They are our neighbour and everybody wants to get along with their neighbour…But everybody wants to get along with their neighbour on reasonable terms. I must respect you and you must respect me,” Jaishankar mentioned.

“From our point of view, we’ve been very clear that if you have to build a relationship, then there has to be mutual respect. Each one will have their interests and we need to be sensitive to what the concerns are of the other party,” he added.

“Relationships are a two-way street. A lasting relationship cannot be a one-way street. We need that mutual respect and mutual sensitivity,” he mentioned, including that it’s no secret we’re going by means of a really troublesome part.

Last week in Bangkok, Jaishankar had mentioned that the connection between India and China goes by means of an “extremely difficult phase” after what Beijing has finished on the border and emphasised that the Asian Century won’t occur if the 2 neighbours couldn’t be part of palms.

“We very much hope that wisdom dawns on the Chinese side,” he had mentioned whereas replying to a query from the viewers in Bangkok.

Besides Brazil, Jaishankar will go to Paraguay and Argentina, and it’s his first journey to the South American area because the exterior affairs minister.

The go to is aimed toward exploring new areas of cooperation within the post-pandemic period, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) mentioned.