'Forward deployment of militaries at LAC needs to be addressed'

Reiterating India’s position on the ongoing military stand-off with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has mentioned the massive troop deployment saying until forward deployments are addressed, tensions would continue.

The two sides are locked in a stand-off since May 2020, amassing troops, tanks, artillery guns, rockets and deploying fighter jets.

The minister was speaking at an event organised by the Carnegie Endowment in the US on Tuesday.

Replying to a question on China, he said, “Because we have forward deployments of our militaries, there are resulting tensions. “Until those forward deployments are addressed, the tensions would continue. If the tensions continue, it casts a natural shadow over the rest of the relationship,” Jaishankar added.

Referring to the timeline of the stand-off, the minister said, “Our relationship (India-China) hasn't been great for the last four years.”

The minister mentioned how the two sides had a series of agreements on keeping the border peaceful and tranquil. “These were violated by China in 2020,” Jaishankar said.

The LAC – un-demarcated and disputed – is 3,488 km long and is de facto boundary between the two nations.

On the trade ties with China, Jaishankar said India’s trade with China, at one level, is almost autonomous of the political or the rest of the relationship.

This is at least the fifth time in three months that Jaishankar has publicly laid down India’s position on the stand-off along the LAC. 

At an event in the US on September 24, he termed the India-China relationship as “significantly disturbed” and added that a larger question remains on “how to deal with this relationship”.

The Minister, on September 12, at an event in Geneva, Switzerland, mentioned how 75 per cent of the disengagement problems – pulling back troops – from the LAC had been sorted.

Describing the next steps, he said, “Then we have to do de-escalation (of troops) as both of us have brought a very large number of troops up to the border.”

In July, the Minister had twice conveyed to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at separate meetings in -- one in Kazakhstan and the other in Laos – how resolution of the LAC was vital for ties.