‘Will not let China to change LAC unilaterally’, says External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar; states reason why India continues trade with them

NEW DELHI: Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar has said that India will not allow China to make any changes in LAC unilaterally. He was speaking at the Indo-Japan Conclave organized by India Today. Jaishankar stated this while taking about the role of Indian Army deployed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

“We will not let any country, in this case China, to change LAC unilaterally,”, he said. "Today, you have a deployment of the Indian Army on China border that we never had. It is done to counter Chinese aggression. The Indian Army today is deployed to counter any attempt to unilaterally change LAC. That is the obligation of the Indian state and duty of the Indian Army," stated the Minister.

He also responded to questions which asked about why trade with China continues amid the border issue continues. “What happened after 1990s when we opened our economy in a manner in which we did not use our openness to strengthen our MSE sector. They found it difficult to compete with economies having greater imports, bigger scale and systematic support. We did not build our supply chain. There are imports coming out of China because, for 30 years, you did not give support to the industries it needed. You cannot reverse in 5-10 years what you have done in 30 years. A country like India cannot pass up the manufacturing sector," he said. He also added that India can take lessons from Japan.