India's relations with China going through 'very difficult phase': Jaishankar

India's relationship with China is right now going through a "very difficult phase" after Beijing violated agreements not to bring the military forces to the border, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said, emphasising that the "state of the border will determine the state of the relationship".

Speaking at a panel discussion on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2022 here, Jaishankar said that India was having a problem with China along the Line of Actual Control.

"For 45 years, there was peace, there was stable border management, and there were no military casualties on the border from 1975. That changed because we had agreements with China not to bring military forces to the border (the Line of Actual Control or LAC) and the Chinese violated those agreements," the minister said in response to a question from moderator Lynn Kuok.

"Now, the state of the border will determine the state of the relationship. That's natural. So obviously, the relations with China right now are going through a very difficult phase," he added.

On Quad, Jaishankar dismissed the notion that the four-member grouping is an Asian NATO as a "completely misleading term" and said "there are interested parties who advance that kind of analogies."

He described Quad as a grouping of "four countries who have common interest, common values, a great deal of comfort, who happen to be located in the four corners of the Indo-Pacific." "It's not post-2020 development. Our relations with the Quad partners - the US, Japan and Australia - have steadily improved in the last 20 years. The Quad has a value in itself. It is four countries who recog nise today the world would be a better place if they cooperated. And that's essentially what's happening," Jaishankar said.

Published on: Monday, February 21, 2022, 09:54 AM IST