On Day 1, Jaishankar focuses on resolving standoff with China

Resolving the border standoff with China will be among the key priorities of the BJP-led NDA government’s third term. Setting the tone for India’s foreign policy in the coming months, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said India’s focus will be on finding solutions to the ongoing border issues with China and to Pakistan’s “years of cross-border terrorism”.

“In any country, and especially in a democracy, it is a very big deal for a government to get elected three times in a row,” Jaishankar said soon after he assumed the charge of India’s external affairs ministry in his familiar turf in South Block.

“So, the world will definitely feel that today there is a lot of political stability in India… As far as Pakistan and China are concerned, the relations with those countries are different, and the problems there are also different,” he added.

“Our focus with regard to China will be on finding a solution for the border issues and with Pakistan, we would want to find a solution to the issue of years-old cross-border terrorism,” he said.

India’s relations with China have been under strain for over four years over the presence of large number of Chinese troops in the Indian territory in Ladakh.

Jaishankar underlined that the foreign policy of Modi 3.0 will be very successful and will enable India to acquire a higher profile on the global stage. “I am fully confident that under PM Modi’s leadership, the foreign policy of Modi 3.0 will be very successful. For us, the influence of India has been steadily growing not just in terms of our own perception but also what other countries think. They feel that India is truly their friend and they have seen that in times of crisis, if there is one country that stands with the Global South, it is India,” he said.

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