China testing India, says External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar amid border standoff at LAC

Terming the seven-month-long border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh "very disturbing" India's External Affairs Minister remarked that India was being tested.

New Delhi: The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday called the seven-month-long border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh "very disturbing" and remarked that India was being tested.

He expressed confidence that India will meet the national security challenge posed by its neighbour at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

S Jaishankar's remarked during an interactive session at the annual general meeting of the industry body FICCI.

He said the "events" along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh was not in China's interest as it is now facing the prospect of losing goodwill in India that was developed carefully in the recent decades.

"I also believe that what has happened is not actually in the interest of China. Because what it has done is -- it has significantly impacted public sentiment (in India). Professionally, I have seen the evolution of how the Indian public feels about China over the last many decades and I am old enough to remember much more difficult days, especially in my childhood and in my teens," he said.

Jaishankar said the "other party" has not abided by agreements on respecting the LAC causing some 'basic concerns'. 

The armies of India and China are locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh since early May. Both sides have held multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks. However, no breakthrough has been achieved yet.

Meanwhile, S Jaishankar also batted for the Indo-Pacific concept has stated that it represents a natural evolution, the evolution of India.

"Indo-Pacific is an emphatic statement that doesn't artificially separate the Indian ocean and India from the Pacific ocean and those countries. The world is much more seamless," he said.