India can now consider other aspects of its bilateral engagement with China in a calibrated manner as the disengagement phase at its border areas has concluded, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar has said.

National security interests, however, will be kept in consideration first and foremost, the Minister said in a statement in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

In his recent meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, an understanding was reached that the Special Representatives and the Foreign Secretary level mechanisms will be convened soon, Jaishankar said.

“We are clear that the maintenance of peace and tranquility in border areas is a prerequisite for the development of our ties. In the coming days, we will be discussing both de-escalation as well as effective management of our activities in the border areas,” Jaishankar pointed out.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan on October 23, which followed the October 21 understanding on border disengagement, Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong had said that China was ready to work with India to lift bilateral economic and trade cooperation to new heights.

“Imposing tariffs and restrictions on Chinese products are not conducive to the development of downstream industries and interests of consumers in India,” Xu said at an industry even in Kolkata, pointing out that China was among the top bilateral trading partners of India with trade having surpassed the $100 billion mark.

Referring to the violent confrontation between the Indian and Chinese troops in 2020 in Galwan valley, Jaishankar said the amassing of troops by China in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020 resulted in face-offs at a number of points and disruption of patrolling activities.

Recent developments that reflect our continuous diplomatic engagement since then have set our ties in the direction of some improvement, he added

“We remain committed to engaging with China to arrive at a fair and mutually acceptable framework for boundary settlement... The government has maintained that India-China relations cannot be normal in the absence of peace and tranquillity in the border areas, the combination of a firm and principal stance on this situation and the border areas, as well a clearly articulated approach to the totality of our ties,” Jaishankar said.

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