New Delhi: India will focus on resolving the remaining issues along the frontier with China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday, amid the over four-year-long border row in eastern Ladakh that significantly strained bilateral ties. Shortly after taking charge of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Jaishankar, referring to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, said efforts will be made to address the challenge. Jaishankar, 69, was among senior BJP leaders, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman, who retained the ministries that they handled in the previous government. The external affairs minister said, “Bharat First” (India First) and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The world is one family) will be the two guiding axioms of Indian foreign policy. On ties with China going forward, Jaishankar said some issues remained along the border with that country and efforts will be made to resolve them. “Our focus with regard to China will be on how to resolve the remaining issues,” he told reporters. The Indian and Chinese militaries have been locked in a standoff since May 2020 and a full resolution of the border row has not yet been achieved though the two sides have disengaged from a number of friction points. Asked about the new government’s approach towards Islamabad, Jaishankar identified Pakistan’s support to cross-border terrorism as the key issue. “With Pakistan, we have the issue of terrorism

  Kashmir 370

Agencies