External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said he would like to have a serious conversation on China but not a “slanging match.” This remark was in reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticising the Minister for lacking knowledge on China.
Replying to questions in Mysore about Rahul’s criticism that the “Minister does not understand the threat from China”, Jaishankar said, “I would have offered to take classes on China from Rahul. But I discovered that he was taking classes on China from the Chinese Ambassador. So I asked myself that I may as well go to the original source and talk to them.
“Unfortunately, foreign policy has also become an arena. I am not innocent and I am not saying that there should not be politics. Today I am in politics. I know everything in politics is political.
But I think on certain issues, we have a collective responsibility to behave in a way in which we do not weaken our collective position abroad."
Speaking on the issue of China building a bridge in the Pangong Tso area, Jaishankar said, "The Chinese came there first in 1959 and then they occupied it in 1962. But it was projected as if we lost our territory to China.
This was the case of some so-called model villages. These were built on areas which we lost in 1962 or before. You will never see me saying what should not have happened in 1962. I believe it was our collective failure without attributing any political colour." "What I would like to see is a serious China conversation and I am prepared to accept that there are differences of viewpoints on that. But if you reduce it to a kind of slanging match, well what can I say after that," Jaishankar added.
Jaishankar, during the interaction, was asked about his experience of working with Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. "For me, each one was an experience of a different kind. I would not get into any comparison," Jaishankar said.
On standing up to European criticism on buying Russian oil amid the Russia-Ukraine war, Jaishankar said, "If somebody is being very self-centred, you have to tell them that there are other interests too. With nice people, you are nice, with difficult people, you sometimes have to push back. A lot of countries are feeling pushed, I feel."