Huge premium in reaching understanding: EAM S Jaishankar on India-China ties

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India and China have "huge premium" in reaching "understanding" and giving the size of both countries, "the world has a lot riding on" both the countries.

Speaking at a virtual event - India@75 Summit - organised by industry body CII, the EAM said, "we are neighbours, at least as the modern state we are neighbours...What it does is, it’s a huge premium in reaching some kind of equilibrium or understanding between the two, not just in my interest but in there interest too and how to do that is one of the big challenges we face and someone at their end will be saying something."

He added, "the world has a lot riding on us, giving our size and impact.. there are problems, problems are laid out and very central to our foreign policy calculations. "

India-China ties suffered a blow after the Galwan clashes in Eastern Ladakh of 15th June when forces from both sides had a violent face-off. India lost 20 of its soldiers, while china accepted it suffered casualties but never came out with a number.

Drawing parallels between India and China, the EAM explained, "We are a neighbour of China, China is already the 2nd largest economy of the world and we will one day be the 3rd largest economy. We are demographically unique countries--in the billion-plus category. we happen to be neighbours, the period of our difficulties was similar... the period of our re-emergence in international politics is also not that far apart. we are seeing a parallel but the differential rise of 2 countries."

On current global dynamics, EAM Jaishankar called for "issue-based" criteria for partnership given "nature of the world is of overlapping interest".