After second incident in week, India asks China to control its troops

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1

India on Tuesday charged Chinese troops of having made a second attempt in a week to change the status quo in the South Bank area of Pangong Lake.

The attempt took place on August 31 even as the ground commanders of the two sides were in discussions to de-escalate the situation due to the scuffle that had taken place on August 29 night.

In a demarche, New Delhi has asked Beijing to discipline and control their frontline troops from undertaking such provocative actions. 

“Due to the timely defensive action, the Indian side was able to prevent these attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo,” said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement.

Chinese troops had first engaged in provocative military manoeuvers late in the night of August 29 and the next day in an attempt to change the status quo in the South Bank area of Pangong Lake. Soon after, the Army said it had responded to these provocative actions and taken appropriate defensive measures. 

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava regretted that Chinese action and behaviour along the LAC since earlier this year has been in clear violation of the relevant bilateral agreements and protocols.

“The Indian side is firmly committed to resolve all outstanding issues along the LAC in the Western Sector through peaceful dialogue. In this context, we expect the Chinese side to sincerely abide by the understanding reached earlier and earnestly work with India to resolve the situation and to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” said Srivastava.

Meanwhile, China gave different responses to the clashes on the line of actual control (LAC) on the night of August 29 and the next day.

The Chinese mission said India had “grossly violated China’s territorial sovereignty, seriously violated relevant agreements, protocols and important consensus”. In a statement on Tuesday, the Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Rong accused Indian troops of turning their backs on the consensus reached in several rounds of diplomatic and military level talks. She specifically complained of Indian troop activity “across the LAC” at the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake and near the Reqin Pass. These, it said, were “flagrant provocations, which again stirred tension in the border areas”.

But in Europe, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said there were bound to be some problems because the India-China boundary is yet to be demarcated. “China-India relations have recently attracted the attention of all parties. The boundary between China and India has not yet been demarcated, so there will always be problems of this kind. We are ready to manage all kinds of issues through dialogue with the Indian side,” he said in Paris at an interaction with French strategic experts at the French Institute of International Relations.

“Differences should be managed and controlled, and in particular, differences should not escalate into conflicts. I think that various departments of the two countries should implement important consensus,” he added.

India has also taken a similar approach as the Chinese of blowing hot and cold on the LAC conflict. Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat has said the military option is on the table if talks fail to yield results. On the other hand Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Monday spoke of achieving some sort of an equilibrium in ties with China and, a couple of days after Gen Rawat’s statement, had said no border dispute has been solved by military action.