Kolkata: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Friday said that the present downturn in bilateral relations was created by China and not by India, maintaining that it takes two hands to clap for a relationship to work.
The minister was speaking during a question-answer session after delivering the Shyama Prasad Lecture on ‘New India and the World’ here.

“It finally takes two hands to clap and China too must have the belief in a workable relationship,” he said when asked whether the two Asian giants can have a working relationship. If there has to be a decent working relationship, China needs to observe the agreements made in 1993 and 1996 on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Mr Jaishankar said. The minister said that for India, the priority should be on improving the lives of its people, like stronger growth and more jobs.

“When any big power is rising, that big power actually wants stability,” he said. Mr Jaishankar said that relationships between major countries work only when they are based on mutual interest, sensitivity and respect. Stating that he endeavours to make China understand this, the external affairs minister said he is working hard at this. “In the border areas, we have resolved some issues. (But) there are issues (where) we have not,” he said, adding: “I will continue to do this … in diplomacy, you never give up.”

Maintaining that India’s relationship with Russia has stood the test of time, Mr Jaishankar said that relations between the two countries have been the steadiest over the last 75 years. He said that one of the reasons for that is there is a “public sentiment in our country about Russia” and it derives from a number of reasons, including the support they gave on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

To a question on the bonhomie with the United States witnessed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit there, Mr Jaishankar said, “It’s not in our interest to be tied down to exclusive relationships. “Because we have a tradition of strong ties with Russia, that should not become a burden or an obstacle to an equally strong relationship with the United States,” Mr Jaishankar said.

He said that at the same time, the relationship with these two countries should not stop India from having a strong relationship with Japan or Europe or any other country. “My effort is to see if I can advance on multiple major relationships, regional relationships, all at the same time in the best possible fashion,” said the minister, a career diplomat who has been the country’s foreign secretary and was ambassador to USA and China.

Source: PTI