Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun at Qingdon called for “bridging the trust deficit” created after 2020 Galwan standoff in eastern Ladakh, “by taking action on ground” to have “permanent solution” of 3,488 km long border demarcation.
Singh, however, acknowledged the work being undertaken by both sides to bring back semblance of normalcy in the bilateral relations. The two leaders met on Thursday for the bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting in Qingdao, China.
“He highlighted the necessity of solving the complex issues through a structured roadmap of permanent engagement and de-escalation,” the Ministry of Defence said.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in October 2024, both the countries mutually agreed to “maintaining peace” on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and work towards ensuring that “mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity” guides the ties.
Friction points
That resulted in the disengagement at the friction points of Depsang and Demchok and resumption of patrolling from both sides along agreed points at LAC, ending the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
Complete de-escalation of troops from the forward locations though did not happen.
The Defence Minister, who was on a maiden visit to China since the Galwan faceoff, also stressed on border management and to have a permanent solution of border demarcation by rejuvenating the established mechanism on the issue.
“He emphasised the need to create good neighbourly conditions to achieve best mutual benefits as well as to cooperate for stability in Asia and the world. He also called for bridging the trust deficit created after the 2020 border standoff, by taking action on ground,” the statement read.
The Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese state, quoted China’s Ministry of Defence to report on Thursday that Rajnath Singh said, “India does not seek conflict or confrontation with China and is willing to properly manage differences, enhance communication and mutual trust and promote steady development of bilateral relations.”
Pahalgam attack
The Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson skipped acknowledging India’s refusal to sign joint-declaration that was to be issued post SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting due to non-acceptance of a proposal of inserting a reference on Pahalgam terror attack in the document.
“As far as I know, with the concerted efforts of all parties, the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting concluded successfully,” Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson at China’s Ministry of National Defence, stated as per Global Times.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said the Defence Minister was right in not signing the joint document as one country of the 10-member grouping, hinting at Pakistan, resisted reference to terrorism in the document.
“Let me give you some context because I think it’s important. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s objective was to fight terrorism. This organisation exists to fight terrorism. When Rajnath ji went for a Defence Ministers’ meeting, and there was a discussion on the outcome document, one country. You can guess which one. One country said that no, we do not want a reference to that,” Jaishankar said at a press briefing here.
“Rajnath Singh’s view rightly was, without that reference, that when the main purpose of the organisation is to fight terrorism, and you are not allowing a reference to that, he expressed his unwillingness to accept... SCO runs with unanimity. One country did not agree to making a reference to terrorism in the statement. So, Rajnath ji clearly said that if there is no mention of terrorism in the statement, we will not sign it,” Jaishankar added.