NEW DELHI: Amid a continuing stand-off at the border, India and China on Thursday held a flag meeting in Chushul in Ladakh to address the issue but the Army did not give details about its outcome.
During the meeting, India raised the demand for restoration of “pre-September 10” situation in Chumar area in Ladakh, sources said here.
This is the third flag meeting between India and China on the issue to resolve the situation after the earlier two meetings had failed to produce any result.
Meanwhile, New Delhi is working on naming a Special Representative as demanded by China during President Xi Jingpin’s visit to India last week to hold talks on the border issue and demarcation of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), they said. In a repeat of the Depsang incident in Ladakh in April last year, the sources said the Chinese side is again demanding the dismantling of some of India’s border posts in the Chumar area.
Chinese troops have pitched their tents in Chumar and their helicopters have been seen dropping food packets for its soldiers.
Tension in the area erupted two weeks back when some Chinese workers, who were constructing a road on their side, crossed into the Indian side and also claimed that they had orders to build a road up to Tible, 5 km deep inside Indian territory.
Chumar was at the centre of the fortnight-long stand-off last year in Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) as the Chinese side had objected to overhead bunkers erected by the Indian side.
As part of an agreement reached at the flag meeting to end that impasse in April-May 2013 at DBO, the Indian side had to dismantle some overhead bunkers in the Chumar area.
During winter this year, Chinese soldiers attempted to enter the area on horsebacks. The area has witnessed frequent incursion attempts by Chinese troops.
During the day, India and China held hectic parlays to resolve the standoff at the Ladakh border area even as the Chinese military on played it down, saying such incidents are “sometimes inevitable” but the situation is under “effective control” with the joint efforts of the two sides.
Indian Ambassador Ashok K Kantha, who returned from New Delhi where he coordinated President Xi Jinping’s visit last week, held talks with officials of the Chinese Foreign and Defence Ministries to find a way out to end the standoff which overshadowed the gains made during the Xi’s maiden visit.
Indian officials said the talks are still continuing but they remained silent about any time line though they were hopeful that the standdoff would be resolved soon.
On its part, the Chinese military came out with a lengthy explanation of its stand on the standoff, saying that it will be solved as soon as possible.
“Through the joint efforts of both sides it (standoff) is under effective control and I hope that with the continued efforts of both sides it can be solved as soon as possible and peace and stability will be maintained at the China-India border,” Defence spokesman Col Geng Yansheng told reporters.
“I would like to emphasise again that because the China- India border is not demarcated, it is sometimes inevitable that incidents happen. What is important is for both sides to implement agreements signed by both sides to boost mutual understanding and mutual trust and make joint efforts to maintain peace stability in the India-China border region,” he said, replying to a number of questions from PTI on why such incidents are taking place at the border.
The spokesman said while it is quite natural for some incidents to happen along the border, “this kind of incidents will not change the overall situation of good neighbourliness and friendship between China and India”.
He skipped questions on why the incursion takes place coinciding with the visit of top Chinese leaders to India.
While Chinese troops entered the Depsang Valley in Ladakh region last year during Premier Li Keqiang’s visit, the two armies were engaged in a stand-off at Chumar region in Ladakh coinciding with the first visit of President Xi Jinping.
It was reiterated during President Xi’s visit that before the final settlement of the border issue, the two sides will jointly safeguard peace and stability in the border region, Geng said.
For the incidents at the China-India border region, there are channels of communication that are functioning quite well, he said.
“The problems can be solved through dialogue and consultation. Both sides should manage the situation and maintain peace and stability in the area. In the recent incident both sides communicated with each other through the existing channels. The situation is currently under effective control and China and India border is peaceful,” he added.
