In a major breakthrough, India and China have come closer to resolve their outstanding border-related issues with the two agreeing on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
Announcing the development, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the two countries have reached an agreement that will lead “to dis-engagement and eventually a resolution of the issues”.
“We have reached an agreement with China on the issues being discussed,” he was quoted as saying.
Misri also hoped that this development would lead to eventual disengagement at the border.
“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 the discussions that have taken place over the last several weeks, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border area and this is leading to dis-engagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said while interacting with the media persons during a special press briefing in New Delhi.
Interestingly, the announcement has come just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia to participate in 16th BRICS Summit where he may hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The agreement pertains to patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas.
S Jaishankar says the two countries have gone back to the situation in 2020
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has also reacted to the development and termed it a major breakthrough.
“Frictions happen between large countries, but this is a major breakthrough,” he said.
“What Foreign Secretary has said is what I can also say, that we reached an agreement on patrolling and with that we have gone back to where the situation was in 2020. We can say that the disengagement process with China has been completed…There are areas which for various reasons after 2020 because they had blocked us so we had blocked them. So what has happened is we have reached an understanding which will allow the patrolling. I think the understanding to my knowledge is that we will be able to do the patrolling which we were doing in 2020.
I think it’s a good development. It’s a positive development and I would say it’s a product of very patient and very persevering diplomacy…We’ve been negotiating since September 2020, when I met my counterpart Wang Yi, in Moscow at that time…I think it creates a basis that peace and tranquility, which there should be in the border areas, which there was before 2020, we will be able to come back to that…”
Earlier, the armies of the two neighboring countries had pulled back from four of six friction points in eastern Ladakh region including Galwan Valley, where the most serious violent clash had taken place in June 2020 between the two sides in decades.
Last month, Jaishankar had said that about 75 percent of the disengagement problems at the border with China had been resolved.
If Modi-Xi Jinping will meet at the summit?
While there has been no official word on the two leaders meeting and discussing bilateral issues, but there is speculation that they may hold a meeting.
The BRICS Summit in Kazan, themed ‘Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security,’ will provide a platform for leaders to discuss key global issues.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the summit offers an opportunity to review progress on BRICS initiatives and explore new areas for cooperation.
