India’s foreign policy has focus on development and people: Jaishankar

Recalling an incident in 2010 when 22 diamond merchants from Surat were arrested by the Chinese government on the charges of smuggling, Jaishankar said, “I was the Indian ambassador to China. He (Narendra Modi, then chief minister), strongly felt that injustice had been done to them. He came to China in 2011 and met the Chinese authorities and strongly put a word before them that there might be a mistake, as not all of them are responsible for such activities. The Chinese authorities released 13 of the 22 arrested. The remaining accused were convicted.”

On a question regarding bilateral relations with China and the border security, he said, “The rise in China has happened in the last 25 years. We are neighbouring countries and we are deeply impacted. We have to be competent and we have to find ways today on how to be competent and how we compete with other countries. Manufacturing is a key factor and also industrial growth.”

Attacking the Congress, he said, “In 1988, then Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi went to China, the economies of India and China were on par. After that, the economy of China has grown four-fold than India. There was no leadership, no vision, no political commitment of good governance. The iPhone, which was manufactured in China, is now being manufactured in India.”