Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that diplomacy is looking at a very changed scenario (file)
New Delhi:
India is engaging with China through diplomatic and military channels, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Monday, asserting that if there is no communication with that country, then the Sino-India border situation would be much worse.
He made the remarks while talking about diplomacy in times of the COVID-19 pandemic at a webinar organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Mr Shringla said that diplomacy is looking at a very changed scenario in terms of how statecraft and relations between countries work in the wake of the pandemic.
“Countries do need to communicate. You cannot stop communications because otherwise the other alternative is greater frictions, tensions and problems, and probably conflict also,” he said.
“For example the increased tension on our border with China. I mean, if there is no communication with that country then we would have a much worse situation, but yesterday our National Security Adviser (Ajit Doval) spoke to his counterpart. Earlier our Foreign Minister (S Jaishankar) had spoken to the foreign minister of China,” he said.
There are other diplomatic and military channels that India is engaging in, he said.
“So we are talking to them and if you stop talking then you can imagine what the consequences (would be). So diplomacy has adapted to this new situation and gone strongly digital,” Mr Shringla said during the webinar titled ”Implementing the vision of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat”.
His remarks come amid the standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last eight weeks.
The tension escalated manifold after 20 Indian soldiers died for the country in a clash with Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley on June 15. The Chinese side also suffered casualties but it is yet to give out the details.
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