Sino-India row: Cannot state of border and future of our ties, says MEA

 Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 14

The Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that while it appreciated the complexity of disengagement of troops from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), it called on the Chinese side to sincerely work towards that objective. 

The comments by MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava come against the backdrop of slow process of disengagement in some areas, near-nothing progress in others and the Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong stating that the onus lies on India.

On a parallel track, India has been narrowing the space for Chinese trade and investments with its telecom majors expected to lose out on the forthcoming 5G tenders. Goods of Chinese origin are also being barred from governmental purchases and while there has been record foreign direct investment in recent months, Chinese companies did not get any piece of the action.  

Meanwhile, Indian Ambassador Vikram Misri held another meeting in Beijing to persuade the Chinese forces to act as per the spirit of the talks between Special Representatives (SR) for Border Talks---National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He met a serving general in the Chinese Central Military Commission on Friday and informed him about India’s stance vis-à-vis the situation on the borders in eastern Ladakh UT. On Wednesday, Misri had met a senior official from the Chinese Communist Party to discuss the tensions along the LAC. 

MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said several meetings of WMCC and also of Senior Commanders have taken place to discuss the implementation of the ongoing disengagement process as well as further steps to ensure it is completed at the earliest. Further meetings are likely to happen in the near future.

 Last month too, Srivastava had said both sides have agreement on broad principles of disengagement and based on it, some progress has been made.

“I must add that translating these principles on ground is a complex process that requires re-deployment of troops by each side towards their regular posts on their respective sides of the LAC. It is natural that this can be done only through mutually agreed reciprocal actions,” he said on Friday.

“While we would like the ongoing disengagement process to be completed at the earliest, it is important to bear in mind that achieving this requires agreed actions by both sides. We therefore expect that the Chinese side to sincerely work with us towards the objective of complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas as agreed by the Special Representatives,” he added.