China’s attempt to change status quo along LAC disturbs peace in Ladakh, says India
On Wednesday, China had accused India of ‘illegally’ encroaching on its territory.
India on Thursday said that the Chinese military’s “provocative behaviour” and “unilateral attempts” to change the status quo along the Line of Actual control in Ladakh has disturbed peace in the region, reported PTI.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in response to a statement from Beijing a day earlier, said that China continues to deploy a large number of troops along the border areas. He said that the Indian Army made similar deployments in response to China’s actions.
Beijing on Wednesday had alleged that that the “root cause” of the tensions between the two countries was India following a “forward policy” and “illegally” encroaching on Chinese territory.
“China opposes any arms race in the disputed border areas for the purpose of competition over control,” Chinese spokesperson Chunying had said, reported the Hindustan Times. “We have always been firm in safeguarding national territorial sovereignty and security, and committed to peace and stability in the China-India border areas.”
On Thursday, Bagchi also recalled External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s statement in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushbane on September 16, that India expected the Chinese side to work towards early resolution of problems along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols.
In May 2020, Chinese troops clashed with the Indian Army at several points along the Line of Actual Control. India and China do not share a defined and demarcated border. Instead, there is the Line of Actual Control, which stretches thousands of kilometres from Ladakh all the way to Arunachal Pradesh.
Tensions between India and China escalated further after a violent face-off in the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020. Since then, the two countries have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the matter.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the June 2020 clashes. China put the number of casualties on its side at four. The two countries have since then held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the matter.
In August, India and China had agreed to disengage in eastern Ladakh’s Gogra area after commander level talks occurred on July 31.
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