New Delhi: “I believe achieving equilibrium and then sustaining and renewing it will pose one of the most significant challenges for both countries. It won’t be an easy task,” he remarked.

Amidst the ongoing border standoff between India and China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar compared Beijing’s tactics to a “mind game,” equating it to the concept of “sledging in cricket.” During his speech at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar mentioned, “Competitions have many forms. But one of them is the mind games which accompany any competitive activities. You know all these indexes you get, the ratings — how democratic you are, how good your press is, how good your civil rights. This is like the equivalent of sledging in cricket. It’s meant to psyche you (up) before you get ready for doing anything.”

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while cautioning against Beijing‘s “mind game” to confine India-China issues within the bilateral framework, stressed the need for India to have confidence in leveraging the international system to achieve the “best possible outcome.” He highlighted the historical understanding on the border from the late 1980s and the recent departure from it, leading to a pushback from India. Jaishankar emphasized that attaining equilibrium and sustaining it would be one of the significant challenges for both countries and acknowledged the complexity of this task.

Jaishankar emphasized that the mind game between India and China should not be influenced by the involvement or opinions of other countries. He highlighted that the relationship between India and China should be based on their dynamics and not be swayed by the perspectives of the other 190-odd countries.