Affirmatively agreeing with an ‘Absolutely’ upon being asked that whether India is still ‘on guard’ and not lowering it despite the Wuhan summit talks, Nirmala Sitharaman acknowledged the stand of India in the border issue. At the Wuhan summit in April, Narendra Modi along with Xi Jinping talked about the diplomatic issues concerning the border, and directed their respective militaries to boost coordination along the Sino-India border, months after one of the most serious military conflicts in the region of Doklam was triggered.
“It is this (Wuhan) spirit, which both the Chinese and we recognise, will have to govern our borders. The Chinese minister referred to the Wuhan spirit more than twice and said we expect the spirit to be governing everything which happens to the last company which comes to the border,” Ms. Sitharaman said in the press conference.
Sitharaman also referred to Modi’s speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue which was held in Singapore in June this year, saying his views and opinions about the disputed was affirmed and welcomed by China. In his address at the premier defence and strategic affairs conference, Modi said ‘…Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other’s interests…’
“There are several areas where the border is not completely defined and demarcated. As a result, the perception of where the border is one thing for us and completely different for them. So they come to a point where we think they should not be coming and we go to a point where they think we should not be going. So periodically this becomes a cause for the flare-up,” she added addressing the issue in Doklam and how the two nations are handling it. This crisis has been pertaining to the two nations for a long time and the informal meeting at Wuhan was a diplomatic talk to sort the situation between the two nations.