‘Both Sides Agreed To Put Restraints’: Jaishankar on India-China Border Agreement In LS
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday responded to a query on the border agreement between India and China by Congress MP Manish Tewari in the Lok Sabha, saying.
The last of disengagement agreements between both sides pertained to Depsang and Demchok. Speaking in the Lower House of the Parliament, Jaishankar said that the understanding between the two countries envisages that Indian security forces would be going to all the patrolling points in Depsang and would be going to the eastward limit which has India’s patrolling limit in that part.
Tewari asked a question on a paper presented by a senior IPS officer to the Conference of Director-Generals and Inspector-Generals of Police in 2023, which said that 26 out of the 65 patrolling points from Korakoram Pass to Chumar were inaccessible to the Indian security forces as a consequence of Chinese transgressions. Tewari asked whether those patrolling points had become accessible or not.
‘Both Sides Agreed To Put Certain Restraints” EAM
In response to Tewari’s query, Jaishankar said, “What somebody wrote as a paper is for that somebody to answer for. I can answer for the government. Now let me, let me sir through you, remind the honourable member, I gave a very etailed statement on the disengagement and recent developments in the India-China border areas. In that statement, I highlighted that the last of the disengagement agreements had taken place which pertained to Depsang and Demchok.”
Referring to his previous statement in the parliament, where the EAM said a de-escalation between India and China was the next priority, he said, “We have also, the same statement made it clear that we have had some previous disengagement agreements. Those disengagement agreements also had certain provisions where both sides on a temporary basis had agreed to put certain restraints on themselves. So I think the position is very clear in that statement, and I would urge the honorable member to read that statement again.”
On October 21, India announced that it had reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control. The deal was confirmed by China the next day, with Beijing saying that a resolution has been reached on “relevant matters” and that it would work with New Delhi to implement these resolutions.
Earlier this month, Jaishankar said full disengagement has been achieved in eastern Ladakh and that the India-China ties have seen some improvements. He also said the next priority for India would be to continue de-escalation.
“The situation arising after our counter-deployment in 2020 called for multiple sets of responses. The immediate priority was to ensure disengagement from friction points so that there would be no further untoward incidents or clashes. This has been fully achieved. The next priority will be to consider de-escalation, which would address the massing of troops along the LAC with associated accompaniments,” the EAM told the House.
At their Kazan meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping endorsed the India-China agreement on patrolling and disengagement along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and issued directions to revive various bilateral dialogue mechanisms, signalling attempts to normalise ties that were hit by a deadly military clash in 2020.