China’s Actions Have ‘No Credible Explanation,’ India Says

(Bloomberg) -- Relations between China and India have deteriorated partly because Beijing has never offered New Delhi a credible explanation for some actions in recent years, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says.

“We’re going through a particularly bad patch in our relationship because they’ve taken a set of actions in violation of agreements for which they still don’t have a credible explanation,” Jaishankar said in a panel discussion at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum Friday in Singapore.

The two Asian powers saw their deadliest fighting in decades in the summer of 2020 high on their disputed Himalayan frontier. Twenty Indians and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat in a clash along the 3,490 kilometer (2,170 miles) border. 

India Defense Chief Says China Is the ‘Biggest Security Threat’

Indian Defense Chief General Bipin Rawat recently called China his country’s biggest security threat, saying a lack of “trust” and growing “suspicion” were getting in the way of resolving the border dispute between the nuclear-armed neighbors. China and India have both been adding infrastructure, troops and military hardware along the frontier, Rawat said.

Envoys from Beijing and New Delhi discussed border issues Thursday, agreeing to take steps to further ease the situation there, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Friday at a regular briefing in Beijing.

Jaishankar told the forum he has been clear in conversations with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

“I don’t think the Chinese have any doubts on where we stand on our relationship and what’s not gone right with it,” he said, adding that Beijing’s actions appear “to indicate some rethink about where they want to take our relationship. But that’s for them to answer.”

The New Economy Forum is being organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

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