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| An Army convoy near Gangateer (File Photo) |
NEW DELHI: According to government sources, India strongly brought up China’s deployment of a sizable number of troops and military hardware along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and expressed its concern during talks between foreign affairs minister S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Xi in Moscow on Friday.
As the two foreign ministers struck a five-point agreement that will direct the two nations in resolving the border stalemate in eastern Ladakh, the Indian side brought up the problem of the Chinese PLA massing troops in Ladakh. The meeting, which took place on Thursday night in Moscow, lasted 2.5 hours.
Jaishankar and Wang were in the Russian capital for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s foreign ministers (SCO).
The conference was an opportunity for the Indian side to express its deep concern over the concentration of Chinese forces and equipment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The 1993 and 1996 Agreements were broken by the massive concentration of soldiers present, which led to flashpoints along the LAC. There is no convincing justification for this deployment from the Chinese side.
In the weeks since the border standoff began in early May, China has stationed a sizable number of soldiers and weapons along the LAC.
The Indian team also informed the Chinese counterpart that the PLA’s provocative actions at flashpoints along the LAC demonstrated the PLA’s contempt for bilateral agreements and conventions.
“The Indian side made it very clear that it anticipated strict respect to all agreements regarding the management of border areas and would not tolerate any attempts to change the status quo unilaterally. The fact that Indian troops had meticulously adhered to all agreements and norms regarding the control of the border areas was also stressed “a source added.
According to government sources, Jaishankar reminded Wang that maintaining calm and peace along the border was crucial for the future development of relations.
The Chinese counterpart was informed by the external affairs minister that the recent events in eastern Ladakh had an unavoidable effect on the progress of the two countries’ relations.
According to the sources, he told Wang that it was in the interests of both countries for the current situation to be resolved as soon as possible.
The sources stated that the Indian side argued that it was crucial to prevent any unfavorable incidents in the future and that the first goal should be to achieve a thorough disengagement of soldiers in all the trouble spots.
According to the sources, the military leaders of the two sides will decide on a final plan for the deployment of troops to their permanent postings and the phasing-out procedure.