India’s external affairs minister said Tuesday that peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for normalizing relations with China, while the commerce and industry minister said India is working to rebuild ties with Beijing but that the outcome remains uncertain.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, said any disturbance along the border would have consequences for bilateral relations. He linked expanded trade and investment ties to stability along the frontier.
“The point we make to the Chinese is: ‘If you want a normal relationship, if the rest of the relationship is to move, it’s common sense — it is a no-brainer that the boundary has to be stable and that we need peace and tranquillity in the border areas,’” Jaishankar said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, speaking at the same event Wednesday, said India is open to business partnerships with countries that offer fair terms and a stable geopolitical environment.
“We are open to all countries around the world as long as we get a fair deal, as long as we ensure a continuity in the engagement, and as long as the geopolitical situation does not deteriorate,” Goyal said. “I think we had some concerns in the past. We are working to develop relations with China once again, but the last word has not yet been scripted on this journey.”
Jaishankar said the situation along the LAC has “settled down” to a great extent since 2024, with bilateral relations “commensurately moving towards normalcy.”
The two countries have introduced confidence-building measures in recent months to repair ties strained by a military standoff in eastern Ladakh that lasted more than four and a half years and ended in late 2024.
Asked about allowing more Chinese investment in India after an “early harvest” agreement on the boundary question, Jaishankar said India is examining various options but is not making a resolution of the entire boundary dispute a prerequisite for business.
“We are now looking at those possibilities, and we have to see where we go. But we are not insisting that you have to solve the boundary issue in order to do business,” he said.
“What we are saying is, the bar is lower. The bar is, maintain peace and tranquillity. I wouldn’t link the early harvest to anything other than the boundary question resolution. Anything we do on any policy we have on business, market access issues will be dealt with separately.”
