New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Wednesday, said India would not agree to any unilateral change in the status quo prevailing in the Line of Actual Control (LAC). He was addressing the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris. On China's attempts to alter the status quo, the Minister reiterated that India will not accept any changes to the LAC.
"We had 13 rounds of discussion by military commanders focused on disengagement. As a result, we've made significant headway in many of the friction points. There are some friction points that still remain to be resolved," Jaishankar said on the India-China border situation. He added, "we are absolutely clear that we will not agree to any change in the status quo, any attempt to change the LAC unilaterally by one side".
On the significance of QUAD, Jaishankar said the thinking behind Quad was that the four countries are comfortable working with each other besides having strong bilateral relations. "The origins of Quad goes back to 2004. We had a tsunami then and the Quad countries coordinated in response to the tsunami and that coordination made a big difference and enabled us to back each other up and get relief support in a much more effective way," he said and added that QUAD will help in regional and global challenges.
QUAD is a grouping of like-minded nations — India, Australia, United States, and Japan — aimed to strengthen the independence and security of Indo-Pacific. China always looks at QUAD with suspicion and blames the QUAD members for being anti-Chinese and for threatening the environment of Indo-Pacific.
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