External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that India’s relations with China are currently “abnormal” as Beijing violated border agreements, PTI reported.

Jaishankar made the statement during his maiden visit to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

“Whether it is the US, Europe, Russia, or Japan, we are trying to ensure that all these ties advance without seeking exclusivity,” Jaishankar said, reported PTI. “China falls in a somewhat different category because of the boundary dispute and the currently abnormal nature of our ties. That is an outcome of a violation of agreements regarding border management by them.”

Ties between New Delhi and Beijing have remained strained since the militaries of the two countries clashed in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June 2020. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the clash, while China had put the number of casualties on its side at four. The two countries have been locked in a border standoff since then.

Tensions between the two countries escalated once again on December 9, after Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. New Delhi said that the clash took place after Chinese soldiers attempted to change the status quo at the Line of Actual Control.

Last month, Jaishankar had said that relations between New Delhi and Beijing cannot return to normal until the border dispute is resolved in line with a September 2020 “in-principle agreement” that he had reached with former Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“We have made it very clear to the Chinese that we cannot have a breach of peace and tranquility, you can’t violate agreements and then want the rest of the relationship to continue as though nothing happened,” the minister had told India Today. “That’s just not tenable.”