Blaming previous Indian governments for “neglecting” the Line of Actual Control (LAC), External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday said he had seen first-hand the extent of Chinese infrastructure development from the 2000s on its side of the LAC when he was India’s Ambassador to China (2009-2013).
Mr. Jaishankar presented the government’s recent initiatives in infrastructure-building along the LAC as achievements but also pointed out that one of India’s most ambitious infrastructure projects with Southeast Asia was facing “big challenges” because of the breakdown in Myanmar’s internal security system.
“The problem is that previous governments did not focus on building infrastructure because their thinking was that if they left border areas undeveloped, then it would not facilitate [Chinese troops] to cross over more easily,” he said, in response to a question. “But this was the wrong thinking, because those who wanted to come, came in any way.”
