Australian High Commissioner to India meets S Jaishankar, supports New Delhi on border standoff with China

Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell, who had a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here on Thursday, stressed on the importance of observing agreed principles and norms between India and China that had helped prevent escalation along the border between the two countries in the past.

O’Farrell said Australia opposed any attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo. Such attempts only increased tension and instability.

The two also discussed developments in the Indo-Pacific region amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Expressing concern at China’s destabilizing actions in the South China Sea that could provoke escalation, he said territorial disputes and competing claims should be resolved peacefully by the claimant countries and in ways consistent with international law.

O’Farrell said Australia remained vigilant about strategic trends ‘’inimical to our vision of the region”.

"Australia envisages an open, free and rules-based Indo-Pacific region that is resilient to coercion," he added.

At least 20 Indian personnel were martyred in a clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers which took place at the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Jun 15.