Be mindful of our aspirations: India to tell China
India is looking for a "pragmatic" conversation with China on "how not accommodating each other's aspirations is not beneficial to the relationship". Speaking before a parliamentary panel foreign secretary S Jaishankar, however, asserted, "We need to have that conversation and we will have that conversation."
India-China relations have been in a trough for a while and have been exacerbated by several factors - Beijing's opposition to India's membership bid of the NSG+ ; its refusal to allow UN sanctions against Masood Azhar of the JeM ; its insistence on building the CPEC+ through Indian territory, among others.
Although in recent weeks, NSA Ajit Doval and his counterpart Yang Jieche met in Bangalore, its generally acknowledged a substantial gulf has emerged between the two countries. In 2016 itself, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese leader Xi Jinping several times, but an earlier cordiality has hardened into a more formal, distant relationship.
"I do not think we should be in denial of what is the problem that we are having with China right now," Jaishankar told the parliamentary panel examining India's use of its soft power attributes.
While an "NSG problem" cannot actually be resolved through soft power projection, but "I think an average American has an image of India which is much superior to what an average Chinese has of India. Therefore, clearly there is work to be done, there is soft power deficiency there which needs to be remedied".
India-China relations have been in a trough for a while and have been exacerbated by several factors - Beijing's opposition to India's membership bid of the NSG+ ; its refusal to allow UN sanctions against Masood Azhar of the JeM ; its insistence on building the CPEC+ through Indian territory, among others.
Although in recent weeks, NSA Ajit Doval and his counterpart Yang Jieche met in Bangalore, its generally acknowledged a substantial gulf has emerged between the two countries. In 2016 itself, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese leader Xi Jinping several times, but an earlier cordiality has hardened into a more formal, distant relationship.
"I do not think we should be in denial of what is the problem that we are having with China right now," Jaishankar told the parliamentary panel examining India's use of its soft power attributes.
While an "NSG problem" cannot actually be resolved through soft power projection, but "I think an average American has an image of India which is much superior to what an average Chinese has of India. Therefore, clearly there is work to be done, there is soft power deficiency there which needs to be remedied".
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