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A day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s rare hard talk to his Chinese counterpart General Li Shangfu that “violation of existing agreements has eroded” the basis of ties, China on Friday urged India to de-hyphenate border resolution with other diplomatic relations.
“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 embassy here said in a statement on Friday. It feels that the border situation is “generally stable”.
The two neighbours’ stand differs, with India insisting that normalisation of bilateral relations is contingent on Chinese PLA going back to pre-May 2020 positions along the LAC in the northern border — a period that saw resistance from the Indian army to intrusion from the other side in Eastern Ladakh that ended in fatalities.
SCO bilateral meeting
At the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers meeting, Rajnath Singh told General Li on Thursday that “all issues at the LAC need to be resolved in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and commitments,” the Ministry of Defence told media.
He also added that “disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation”.
Singh’s statement followed the just-held 18 Corps Commanders level meeting that did not yield any breakthrough in resolving the remaining friction points at Demchok and Depsang, among others, in Eastern Ladakh.
China, however, officially also tried to cool down border tensions by stating that the two countries share far more common interests than differences.
India and China 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,” Beijing articulated.
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