New Delhi, July 23
Concerned over fresh incursions by China’s PLA troops in Ladakh’s Chumar sector, India today emphasised that there was need to adhere to bilateral agreements for maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) pending a final settlement of the boundary dispute.

The two sides discussed a series of steps they could take to ensure peace along the border at the third meeting of the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on the India-China border affairs. The Indian side at the two-day talks was led by Gautam Bambawale, Joint secretary (East Asia) in the External Affairs Ministry, and included representatives of the Defence and Home ministries. The Chinese side also included officials of the Foreign and Defence ministries.

According to External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin, this was the third meeting of the working mechanism which had last met in November 2012. Underlining that the meeting dealt with all issues relating to peace and tranquillity, the spokesman clarified it would not deal with boundary issues “as those are being handled by the Special Representatives of both sides.”

He also stated that the border defence cooperation agreement (BDCA), being discussed between the two sides, was not discussed at the meeting because there were separate mechanisms to deal with that.

The meeting came close on the heels of PLA incursions on July 16, 18 and 20. On each occasion, the Chinese soldiers intruded about three km into the Indian territory before retreating. In April, Chinese troops had pitched tents in the Depsang Valley coming face-to-face with Indian troops, leading to heightened tension between the two countries. The 21-day stand-off in Depsang ended only after it was conveyed to Beijing through diplomatic and military channels that External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid would cancel his visit to Beijing. This would have automatically led to the cancellation of new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to India.