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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, during his meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, emphasised that the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing is not normal, and that the two sides need to find a way to deal with issues that have been pending so as to ensure peace and tranquility at borders.
During his meeting with Yi, on sidelines of SCO Summit, Jaishankar also affirmed that normal relationship can't be maintained unless there is peace and tranquility at the border. Speaking to ANI, Jaishankar said, "We discussed the state of the relationship, which is not normal...two of us have been meeting fairly regularly since 2020, so that the disengagement issue needs to be completed. There are some pending outcomes...we have to find a way by which LAC is respected and peace and tranquility are ensured in the border area. You cannot disturb peace and tranquility and have a good relationship." The EAM further said that the two leaders agreed to convene an early meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) to discuss the border situation. "We both looked at it, the current situation is absolutely not helping the relationship...what we agreed at the end of it all was we would ask the mechanism, we call it WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs), which deals with it to convene an early meeting," Jaishankar said. "In my view, both sides need to make a push and find a way by which we can deal with issues that have been pending for sometime," he added. Speaking on the SCO Summit in Astana, he said that it was 'good one', both from the point of view of SCO as an organisation and from India's perception. "Overall, my take is a good one, both from the point of view of SCO as an organisation and perceptive of India. Iran joined the meeting...Belarus joined the meeting...we also had an SCO+ meeting for the first time...we had some solid outcomes. One is that we got a very strong position from SCO on the whole challenge of terrorism...primary purpose of SCO was to combat terrorism and extremism," Jaishankar said. "We got an endorsement today, very explicitly, combating terrorism in all forms...including cross-border terrorism, terror financing...we got a programme of cooperation... the second set of outcomes is, anti-drug strategy, SCO is setting up an illegal narcotics countering centre in Tajikistan...we agreed on cooperating on energy, environment," he added. Jaishankar represented India at the SCO Summit under Kazakhstan's presidency in Astana. (ANI)
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