China Attempts to Sideline Border Issue after India Adopts Tough Stance during Singh-Shangfu Meet

India made it clear to China that bilateral ties can only develop further if peace and tranquillity at the borders is maintained. China in its readout of the bilateral meeting between Singh and Shangfu released Friday attempted to paint a rosy picture of the bilateral relations and attempted to sideline the border issue.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh during a bilateral meeting conveyed to counterpart General Li Shangfu that “development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders”.

“The Raksha Mantri categorically conveyed that development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders. He added that all issues at the LAC need to be resolved in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and commitments,” a statement released by the government said.

China in its readout of the bilateral meeting between Singh and Shangfu attempted to paint a rosy picture of the bilateral relations and attempted to sideline the border issue.

“The situation on the China-India border is generally stable and the two sides have maintained communication through military and diplomatic channels. The two sides should take a long-term view, place the border issue in an appropriate position in bilateral relations, and promote the transition of the border situation to normalised management,” the Chinese statement following the bilateral meeting said.

The bilateral meeting held between both defence ministers was the first meeting to be held following the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.

The statement reflects China’s position on the border issue. China attempted to alter the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and attempted to encroach areas near Galwan Valley and Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh in May 2020.

They were thwarted by Indian security forces and 18 rounds of corps commander-level talks have been held to resolve the rest of the issues.

The two sides in late October 2022 completed the disengagement process in the Gogra Heights-Hot Springs area near Patrolling Point-15 in the eastern Ladakh sector but China is refusing to undertake troop disengagement in the friction points of Demchok and Depsang. China says that these are pre-existing legacy issues.

The Chinese readout also failed to consider that its leadership is responsible for the flareup of tensions along the Sikkim-Arunachal Pradesh frontier which resulted in clashes between both sets of troops at Tawang sector on December 9.

China’s move to standardise the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in April also contributed to the deterioration of ties between New Delhi and Beijing.

“As major neighbouring countries and important developing countries, China and India share far more common interests than differences. The two sides should view bilateral relations and each other’s development from a comprehensive, long-term and strategic perspective, and jointly contribute wisdom and strength to world and regional peace and stability,” the Chinese readout further added.

However, Singh made it abundantly clear that the violation of the existing agreements adversely impacted the “entire basis of bilateral relations”.

“(The defence minister) added that all issues at the LAC need to be resolved in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and commitments. He reiterated that violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation,” the statement from the government said.

(with inputs from Shalinder Wangu)

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