Moscow: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday that there has been a lot of concern about the India-China relationship since last year because Beijing has not observed agreements on the border issue which has "disturbed" the foundation of the bilateral relationship. "I would say for the last 40 years we had a very stable relation with China…China emerged as the second-largest trade partner..,” Jaishankar said in response to a question on China-India relations at the Primakov Institute of World Economy & International Relations in Moscow.
"But for the last one year, there has been a lot of concern about the relationship because China has not observed agreements that it had signed up to when it came to our border,” said Jaishankar, who is here on a three-day visit. "After 45 years, we actually had a border incident with casualties. And peace and tranquillity on the border, for any country, is the foundation of a relationship with a neighbour. So naturally, the foundations have got disturbed, so has the relationship,” he added. India and China were locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh since early May last year. However, the two sides completed the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the North and South banks of Pangong lake in February following a series of military and diplomatic talks.
Read:Jaishankar to hold key discussions with Russian counterpart on Friday