External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday spoke on India’s ties with China and said efforts to unilaterally change the Line of Actual Control (LAC) will not be tolerated. Speaking during the Winter Session of Parliament, he said relations with China are not “normal”, which he said is evident from the last few years.
“Diplomatically, we’re clear with Chinese we won’t tolerate attempts to unilaterally change LAC. If they continue to do that and build up forces which constitute serious concerns in border area then our relationship isn’t normal, and that abnormality is evident in last few years,” news agency ANI quoted the minister as saying in Rajya Sabha.
During the session, Jaishankar also said India’s diplomacy continued apace amid the country’s growing global interests, expanding footprint, and more intensive partnerships.
Just last week, China had said it was opposed to the joint Indo-US military exercises being held near the LAC, asserting that it violates the spirit of the two border agreements signed between New Delhi and Beijing.
The 18th edition of the India-US joint military exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas’ is currently underway in Uttarakhand, about 100 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a PTI report said. The nearly two-week exercise began earlier this month. It aims to enhance interoperability and share expertise between both armies in peacekeeping and disaster relief operations.
In November, Jaishankar had asserted that India’s relationship with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas and there is no ambiguity in New Delhi’s signalling to that country.
The Indian and Chinese armies on September 8 announced that they have kicked off the disengagement process from the PP-15, in a significant forward movement in the stalled process to pull-out troops from the remaining friction points in the region.
The disengagement in the Gogra-Hotsprings area is an outcome of the 16th round of high-level military talks in July, the two armies had said while announcing the beginning of the process on September 8.
India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquility along the LAC were key for the overall development of the bilateral ties. The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas. Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry.
As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area. The disengagement in the Pangong Lake area took place in February last year while the withdrawal of troops and equipment in Patrolling Point 17 (A) in Gogra took place in August last year.
(with inputs from PTI)
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