'India-China relations not normal': EAM Jaishankar after bilateral meeting with Qin Gang

The relations between India and China cannot be normal if peace and tranquillity in border areas are disturbed, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.

His comments at a press conference came a day after his talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

"I think the issue is that there is an abnormal position in border areas," he said, adding "we had a frank discussion about it." "We have to take the disengagement process forward," he further said.

Jaishankar and Qin held bilateral talks on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The meeting between the two foreign ministers was their second in the last two months. The Chinese foreign minister visited India in March to attend a meeting of the G20 foreign ministers.

During the talks, Jaishankar conveyed to his Chinese counterpart that the state of India-China relations is "abnormal" because of the lingering border row in eastern Ladakh.