External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that differences between India and China should be expected, given that the two countries are large neighbours with their own interests, and that the task of diplomacy is to recognise those differences and work through them rather than pretend they do not exist.
Speaking at the NDTV World Summit in New Delhi, Jaishankar addressed questions about the state of the relationship between the two Asian giants, a relationship that has moved through a difficult phase in recent years and is now, in his assessment, on a steadier footing than it was a year or two ago, though far from free of problems.
"Are there other issues? Yes, there are. I mean, between big countries, between big neighbours, there will be issues. So we've got to recognise that and address those issues," he said during the discussion, setting out a view of the relationship that is neither alarmist nor complacent.
The remarks matter because India-China relations sit at the intersection of almost every major question in Asian geopolitics: a disputed frontier running thousands of kilometres, two of the world's largest populations and economies, competing influence across South Asia and the Indian Ocean, and a trade relationship that has kept growing even when political ties have been strained.
Jaishankar was asked directly whether India's approach to settling the boundary dispute had changed. His answer was careful and consistent with positions New Delhi has held for years. Any final settlement, he said, would have to cover the entire boundary rather than settling one sector in isolation. At the same time, he acknowledged that any concrete discussion has to begin somewhere, and that talks on specific areas could provide a starting point for progress.
"For any settlement to happen, it will have to include the entire boundary. And I mean, it has never been any... I don't think there's a change of position in that sense. I mean, any settlement has to be across, but any discussion also, any concrete discussion has to begin somewhere, you know. I mean, there's got to be a starting point," he said.
The emphasis on the whole boundary reflects a long-standing Indian concern: that a piecemeal approach could leave the hardest questions untouched while creating an appearance of progress. It also reflects the sheer complexity of a frontier that runs through high Himalayan terrain, where maps, patrol routes and local understandings have differed for decades.
A central thread of Jaishankar's remarks was the importance of peace and tranquillity along the border. He described this as a principle that has guided India-China relations since the 1980s, when the two countries put in place agreements and detailed procedures to manage activities along the frontier and prevent confrontations between troops operating in close proximity.
That framework came under severe strain after the deadly Galwan Valley clash in 2020, which ended a long period in which border incidents, while not unknown, had generally been managed without loss of life. The clash, and the military standoff in eastern Ladakh that followed, pushed the relationship into what Jaishankar has previously described as a particularly bad patch running from the summer of 2020 to the autumn of 2024.
During that period, official exchanges, visas and flights were disrupted, even as trade continued. The gradual easing of tensions in more recent times has allowed some suspended channels to reopen, including direct flights, updates to the visa regime, the restart of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the resumption of border trade. Jaishankar has presented these steps as signs of stabilisation rather than as a resolution of the underlying differences.
His message at the summit followed a similar line. He has said in recent months that the relationship is better than it was in 2025, and significantly better than in 2024, while insisting that the state of the border will, to a very large measure, determine the state of the relationship as a whole. Peace in the border areas, in his formulation, is a prerequisite for normal ties, not an optional extra.
That position has been tested in recent days by remarks from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police chief, who spoke of face-offs at several locations in Arunachal Pradesh. The government later sought to place those remarks in context, with sources saying they referred to routine deployment and preparedness rather than any specific incident. The episode underlines how sensitive any public comment on the frontier remains, and why ministers choose their words with care.
Beyond the border itself, Jaishankar pointed to a wider set of issues that still require attention. These include fair market access for Indian goods, the trade balance between the two countries, predictability in supply chains, and smoother official and people-to-people exchanges. India runs a large trade deficit with China, and New Delhi has repeatedly raised concerns about market access and the reliability of supply chains for critical goods.
At the same time, the minister has argued that India must engage economically with the entire world, including China, while building up its own strengths and standing firm on its interests. In his telling, dealing confidently with Beijing is part of a broader approach in which India maintains balanced relationships with major partners, including the United States, Europe, Japan and Russia, without becoming excessively dependent on any single country.
The political-level reset over the past year, including meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, has provided the backdrop for this more measured tone. Such leader-level engagement, officials argue, creates space for the working-level mechanisms on the border, on trade and on other questions to function more effectively.
Yet Jaishankar's summit remarks also served as a reminder that no reset, however welcome, removes the structural sources of friction. Two rising powers sharing a contested frontier, with overlapping interests across Asia and beyond, will generate disagreements. The question, in his framing, is not whether issues will arise but whether both sides have the mechanisms and the political will to manage them before they escalate into disputes.
For India, that management task has several layers. Militarily, it means maintaining credible positions along the frontier while avoiding actions that could trigger unintended escalation. Diplomatically, it means keeping channels open at every level, from border personnel meetings to ministerial talks. Economically, it means reducing vulnerabilities in supply chains while keeping trade flowing where it serves Indian interests.
For China, the Indian message is equally layered: New Delhi wants a stable relationship and recognises a shared interest in one, but it will not accept a normalisation that leaves border tensions unresolved, nor will it trade away its interests for the sake of appearances.
The summit audience heard, in effect, a statement of method as much as a statement of policy. Acknowledge the issues, address them one by one, insist that any settlement be comprehensive, and judge progress by conditions on the ground rather than by rhetoric. It is an approach shaped by the experience of the last six years, in which a breakdown on the border froze much of the relationship, and in which recovery has come slowly, step by step.
Whether that approach can deliver more than stabilisation remains an open question. The boundary dispute has resisted settlement for decades, and the strategic competition between the two countries extends well beyond the Himalayas. But Jaishankar's remarks suggest that New Delhi, for now, is focused less on dramatic breakthroughs and more on steady, verifiable management of a relationship it regards as too important to leave to drift.
In that sense, the most telling line of the session may have been the simplest: between big neighbours, there will be issues. The work, as he described it, is to recognise them and address them, without illusion and without panic.
(Reporting based on NDTV and The New Indian Express.)