Chinese Envoy calls border dispute between India and China a “Bilateral Issue”

According to Ma Jia, charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy, while China and India will have to deal with the “difficulties” imposed by the current border situation, neither nation wants to go to war or engage in confrontation.

According to Ma Jia, charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy, while China and India will have to deal with the “difficulties” brought on by the border situation, neither nation wants to go to war or engage in confrontation.

Ma said the situation in the border areas was “very complicated” and noted that it was difficult to come to an agreement. He pointed out this is why the two countries were holding talks through the established Working Mechanism for Consultation and Cooperation and the senior commander-level meetings.

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Since the consensus at the G20 Summit in Bali, she claimed, the circumstances around the Ukraine issue has “intensified,” now making it “more difficult to reach the accommodation”.

Her comments came in response to a joint statement made by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin following their meeting, which stated that the two countries will resist using multilateral platforms to take up “irrelevant issues.”

As Sun Weidong finished his tenure as ambassador to India in October of last year, China has failed to name a replacement. Ma, a senior diplomat, has been in command of the New Delhi mission.

Ma had previously stated in her suo moto remarks that the current border situation was stable and that communication between China and India was continuing through the senior commander level meetings and the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Cooperation.

Giving her assessment of the border situation, the top Chinese diplomat in India stated, “There are difficulties, I have just said that. But, we have to face it. We are also confident that China and India do not want war. Neither of us want a war. Neither of us want confrontation along the border areas.”

The Chinese diplomat said it may be challenging to reach a consensus at the G20 if “prominent security issues” were raised at a conference meant to address economic and financial issues, amid reports that Russia and China will oppose raising the Ukraine issue on multilateral platforms.

“As long as you are out of the track and discussing prominent security issues on economic and financial platforms, it is very difficult to reach consensus. In G20, we have this consensus principle. Even if one country does not agree, it is not a consensus,” she stated.