"Have Explained To My Chinese Counterpart That...": S Jaishankar On Border Row

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that India has "very strongly countered" China by deploying thousands of troops along LAC and emphasised that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will never compromise when it comes to national security.

Addressing an event in Bhubaneshwar on Saturday, S Jaishankar, underscoring tensions with China, said that in the last four years, attempts have been made to put pressure on India by bringing a lot of troops to the Line of Actual Control.

He added that thousands of Indian army troops are deployed there to counter.

"We have very strongly countered it. Today, thousands of troops of the Indian Army are on deployment in the line of LAC alongside China. We are very clear; we are there, we are strong, and we are deployed," he said.

Praising the Indian armed forces, S Jaishankar noted that any action we have to take as per the circumstances, "our armed forces will naturally be the best judge of it."

"When it comes to national security, the Modi government will never make a compromise, it can be cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, it can be pressure on the border from China. It can be terrorism we had in the past from the Myanmar border before we did the land boundary agreement, even from Bangladesh," he said.

EAM emphasised, "It's very clear for us, Bharat first: security first. There is no compromise."

Earlier this year, S Jaishankar stated that he had told his Chinese counterpart that unless they found a solution on the border, they should not expect the relations between the two countries to be normal.

He said that China violated the agreement in 2020 and brought troops to the LAC and India has to keep its defence in check.

"I have explained to my Chinese counterpart that unless you find a solution on the border, if the forces will remain face-to-face and there will be tension, then you should not expect that the rest of the relations will go on in a normal manner; it is impossible," he said, adding, "It's not like you can fight here and also do business with us, you can't do that."

When asked about whether the harsh relations between India and China will affect the overall important relationship between the two countries, he explained that both countries have had some agreements since the war in 1962. However, China violated those agreements.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)