More debates on China and LAC agreement post-2020 than earlier: Jaishankar defends government against charges of secrecy

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar defends India-China relations, transparency, and foreign policy changes at magazine launch event.

There have been more public debates over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 2020 than before, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, defending the government on the issue of transparency in India-China relations.

The LAC agreement announced on October 21 this year, as well as the terms of the disengagement process, has led to many questions being asked, including in Parliament’s ongoing Winter Session, where Mr. Jaishankar was pointedly asked about whether India would regain the situation prior to April 2020, when Chinese PLA troops amassed troops and transgressed territory along the LAC.

Speaking at the launch of “India’s World”, a new bi-monthly Foreign Policy magazine in India, Mr. Jaishankar said that it was unfair to target the Modi government when previous governments in the past have maintained a degree of secrecy over sensitive issues. 

“Look where China is concerned, it is [a relationship] where there has been much more reticence,” Mr. Jaishankar explained, speaking about several India-China agreements in the past, including the 1993 LAC agreement over Sumdorong Chu, which is still highly classified. He also referred to the 2005 decision to declare India and China “Strategic Partners” and the 2006 decision to begin talks on a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). “Was there a debate then?” asked Mr. Jaishankar, claiming that military and industry stakeholders had not been consulted for those decisions.

“When people talk about transparency, let us remember what the history is. In the last four and a half years, I have seen more debates about China than I have seen in 40 years before that,” he said in response to a question by C. Rajamohan, Strategic analyst and the Chairperson of the editorial board of the new magazine.

The inaugural edition of the magazine, edited by Happymon Jacob, Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University has focused on a “Grand Strategy for India”.

Mr. Jaishankar, who had served in the Indian Foreign Service for decades prior to becoming the External Affairs Minister, also said that he had seen a number of examples where diplomacy would not have produced results if it had been discussed openly.