NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 14: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said India’s border with China had become “more alive”, requiring a significantly greater and sustained deployment of troops. He also highlighted the government’s efforts to strengthen infrastructure and enhance military capabilities along the frontier.
Speaking at an interactive session during the HT Leadership Summit, Jaishankar said India’s ability to deploy troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) had improved considerably, particularly since the 2020 clashes in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
Pointing to the growing pace of infrastructure development, he cited the construction of tunnels, bridges and the commissioning of airfields as evidence of increased attention to border areas.
He said the improved infrastructure had enabled India to maintain larger troop deployments along the China border and would continue to support the country’s operational requirements.
Jaishankar noted that border infrastructure had remained neglected for decades, despite discussions and plans to improve connectivity. According to him, significant attention, resources and policy support had been directed towards the sector only over the past decade.
He said the improvement was evident in the expansion of road networks, tunnelling projects and other facilities, adding that those familiar with the border areas and military operations could assess the progress on the ground.
The External Affairs Minister’s remarks come amid ongoing efforts by India and China to normalise bilateral relations, which deteriorated sharply following the prolonged military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
Relations between the two countries began showing signs of improvement after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024, following the disengagement process that brought the border face-off to an end.
Their discussions covered several issues, including reducing the trade deficit, addressing challenges such as terrorism and ensuring fair trade practices at multilateral platforms.
Responding to a question about the economic imbalance between India and China, Jaishankar said the two countries had economies of comparable size around the time former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China in 1988.
However, he said China made a major push towards modernisation and industrialisation during the 1980s, while India missed important opportunities during that period.
He acknowledged that India introduced economic reforms in the 1990s but said they were not consistently implemented across sectors to build long-term industrial strength.
Jaishankar said India now needed to catch up through a different approach, focusing on technological advancement, manufacturing and areas where it could build competitive advantages.
He emphasised that addressing economic asymmetry did not mean competing with China on every front. Instead, India needed to identify sectors where it had the potential to make a significant impact.
The minister also outlined the Modi government’s efforts to strengthen manufacturing and industrialisation, saying India would need to build on its strengths and pursue new growth opportunities to address the economic gap with China.
