"The Modi government has publicly maintained that India-China relations cannot be normal in the absence of peace and tranquility in the border areas," -
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said in Rajya Sabha on Dec 4, 2024.
"....the agreement reached on 21 October, 2024 regarding Depsang and Demchok. The twin considerations of an unstable local situation and an impacted bilateral relationship were clearly the drivers of the most recent endeavors.
These two areas have been the focus of our discussions in both WMCC and SHMC with the Chinese side since September 2022, when the last disengagement agreement was concluded at Hot Springs," he said in a suo motu statement.
He also said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has also met the Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun at the ASEAN Defence Ministers meeting in Vientiane on November 20, 2024.
"The two Ministers discussed progress on the recent agreement on disengagement, the need to address de-escalation along the LAC and the requirement of strengthening confidence building measures. They agreed on the importance of continuing meetings and consultations at various levels," Dr Jaishankar said.
He said:
"The House will remember that the October 21, 2024 agreement is the latest in the series of understandings in regard to the resolution of the situation at various friction points in Eastern Ladakh.
In the aftermath of the events in May/June 2020, and the initial disengagement in Galwan Valley in July 2020, there was a Foreign Ministers meeting in Moscow on 10 September, 2020."
Dr Jaishankar also said, "As Members are aware, there is a long history of frictions, transgressions and face offs in several sectors of the India-China border. This goes back to Barahoti from 1954, to Longju in 1959, to Sumdorong Chu from 1986-1995 and Depsang in 2013, amongst others.
In the past, earlier Governments have agreed to a range of steps to defuse situations that have arisen at different times, including offers from our side to create de-militarized zones, limited non-patrolling zones, relocation or withdrawal of posts, disengagement of troops and dismantlement of structures.
Different locations have seen different solutions being examined.
"Where the October 21 understanding is concerned, our objective has been to ensure patrolling as in the past to the relevant patrolling points, as well as resumption of grazing by our civilians as per longstanding practice.
This is indeed what we have agreed upon in regard to Depsang and Demchok," he minister said.
The former career diplomat and who also served as India's Foreign Secretary, stated that: "In a few other places where friction occurred in 2020, steps of a temporary and limited nature were worked out, based on local conditions, to obviate the possibility of further friction.
This, I must stress, applies to both sides and can be revisited as the situation demands. In that sense, our stance has been resolute and firm and serves our national security fully."
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| Modi hosted Xi Jinping for an informal summit in 2019 |
"Finally, let me share with Hon’ble Members our expectation regarding the direction of our ties with China in the near future. Our relationship had progressed in many domains, but was obviously negatively affected by recent events.
"We are clear that the maintenance of peace and tranquility in border areas is a pre-requisite for the development of our ties. In the coming days, we will be discussing both de-escalation as well as effective management of our activities in the border areas.
"The conclusion of the disengagement phase now allows us to consider other aspects of our bilateral engagement in a calibrated manner, keeping our national security interests first and foremost.
"In my recent meeting with FM Wang Yi, we reached an understanding that the Special Representatives and the Foreign Secretary level mechanisms will be convening soon," he said.
ends
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