Some progress in LAC disengagement, other steps could follow, says S Jaishankar

India and China have made “some progress” in LAC disengagement, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday, describing it as a “welcome” move which opens up the possibility that other steps could happen.

His comments come days after Indian and Chinese troops completed disengagement at two friction points at Demchok and Depsang Plains in eastern Ladakh. The Indian Army commenced verification patrolling at Depsang while patrolling at Demchok started on Friday.

“In terms of India and China, yes, we have made some progress. You know, our relations were very, very disturbed for reasons all of you know. We have made some progress in what we call disengagement, which is when troops were very close to each other, with the possibility that could lead to some untoward incident,” Jaishankar said.

“There are very large numbers of Chinese troops deployed along the Line of Actual Control who were not there before 2020. And we, in turn, have counter-deployed. There are other aspects of the relationship, which also got affected during this period. The disengagement is a welcome step. It opens up the possibility that other steps could happen,” said the minister.

On October 21, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in Delhi that an agreement had been finalised between India and China following negotiations over the past several weeks and that it would lead to a resolution of the issues that arose in 2020. The agreement was firmed up on patrolling and disengagement of troops along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, a breakthrough to end the over four-year standoff.

The ties between the two Asian giants nosedived following a fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

Jaishankar, who arrived in the Australian city of Brisbane earlier in the day on the first leg of his two-nation tour, said that there were right now two conflicts, which were in everybody’s mind.

“One is Ukraine. And one is what is happening in the Middle East. In different ways, we are trying to do something in both,” he said. On the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Jaishankar said India was making efforts to bring diplomacy back to the forefront, with Prime Minister Modi personally involved in meetings with leaders of the two countries.

On the situation in West Asia, Jaishankar said it was very different. “At the moment, the effort is more to prevent the conflict from spreading. And, here, one of the gaps is the inability of Iran and Israel to talk to each other directly. So different countries are trying to see if they can, you know, bridge that gap. We happen to be one of them,” he said.