China Wants Improved Relations with India
In an op-ed piece for The National Interest, China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang has indicated a desire to improve relations with India. He referred to border issues between the two countries and stated that “both sides are willing to ease the situation and jointly protect peace along their borders.”
Recently, India and China held a meeting at the Chushul-Moldo border and agreed to maintain security and stability in the Western Sector. The two sides also agreed to stay in close contact and work towards resolving remaining issues through military and diplomatic channels. In the article, Qin also blamed the US for challenging the status quo on Taiwan and Japan for altering the status quo in the South China Sea. Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a phone call with Qin in which they discussed the US-China relationship and maintaining open lines of communication.
“China’s development means a stronger force for peace, not a growing power poised to ‘break the status quo’, as some call it. The tension across the Taiwan Strait was not created by the Chinese mainland breaking the status quo, but by ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists and external forces continually challenging the status quo of ‘one China’,” Qin wrote.
“In the case of the East China Sea, it was Japan who attempted to ‘nationalize’ Diaoyu Dao ten years ago, altering the “status quo” between China and Japan by agreeing to put aside differences. In the South China Sea, the status quo is that regional countries are consulting on a code of conduct that will lead to meaningful and effective rules for the region,” he wrote.
