China’s foreign ministry spokesperson confirms India China border patrol agreement today, a day later after India announced the crucial development yesterday. Both sides confirming to agreement is considered a major breakthrough amid India China military stand off at Line of Actual Control (LAC) lingering for four years post Galwan valley clash on June 15, 2020.
Shailesh Kumar, National Defence
New Delhi, 22 October, 2024
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, “Over a recent period of time, China and India have reached resolutions on issues concerning the border area following close communication through diplomatic and military channels. China commends the progress made and will continue working with India for the sound implementation of these resolutions”
Lin was answering a foreign media outlet’s question but he ducked question on meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “On the bilateral meeting you mentioned, I answered the question yesterday. China will release timely information if anything comes up”, he added.
India’s foreign secretary ViKram Misri yesterday told media that “Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums. As a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at patrolling arrangements along the line of actual control in the India China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020. We will be taking the next steps on this”.
Both sides without revealing details have said that the agreement between both the nations could be reached following close communication through diplomatic and military channels. China’s foreign ministry emphasized that “China will continue working with India for the sound implementation of these resolutions”.
Army Chief #GeneralUpendraDwivedi on #LAC #Patrolling restoration says, “We wanted to go back to status quo of 2020. As of now we are trying to restore the trust (read with #PLA) when we see each other. We want to see buffer zones are not creeping”. @adgpi, @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/FPtBJwTfJT
— NationalDefence (@NDIndiaFirst) October 22, 2024
Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi today emphasised that trust remains a key issue between both militaries.
Speaking at the Col Pyara Lal Memorial Lecture on “Decade of Transformation: Indian Army in Stride with the Future”, an event organised by the tri-services United Service Institution of India (USI), General Dwivedi said, “We want to return to the status quo of April 2020, after which we’ll focus on disengagement, de-escalation, and the normal management of the LAC. This has been our stance since 2020, and it remains unchanged”.
Adding that normal management of LAC will be carried out in a phased manner, Gen. Dwivedi said: “We have been asserting our stance from April 2020 when Lt Gen Y.K. Joshi was the Army Commander, and even today, it remains the same.”
Claiming that both the nations need to ‘reassure each other’ before carrying out the disengagement process, the Army Chief said: “As of now, we are trying to restore the trust. That will happen once we are able to see each other and we are able to convince and reassure each other that we are not creeping into buffer zones that have been created. Patrolling gives us that kind of advantage. So that’s something which is commencing. And as we are restoring trust, the other stages will also follow through soon.”
Resolution of border dispute in the wake of Galwan valley has been a matter of concern for India as Galwan Valley clash eventually led to military stand off between both the nation at unprecedented Himalayan heights where climatic conditions are too harsh for carrying day to day activities. Chinese aggression at one point led to a situation where India’s opposition party Indian National Congress criticised Modi Government for lackadaisical attitude towards China border and accused that India lost patrolling rights at 26 points out of 65 patrolling points in Eastern ladakh.
However, Indian Government firmed conveyed to Chinese side that India and China can not have normal ties until China maintains the peace and tranquillity at the border and maintain status quo as before June 2020. Now both leaders’ possibly bilateral meeting in Kazan first time ever after the 2020 incident may lead to further dis-engagement and de-escalation and stabilization of LAC at Sino- Indian border.
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