Chinese envoy Sun Weidong said on Monday that the five-point roadmap agreed by India and China to address tensions at the disputed border provides “political impetus” to efforts to ease the situation, even as he blamed New Delhi for crossing the Line of Royal Control. (LAC) and altering the status quo.
Sun made the remarks in a lengthy statement issued by the Chinese embassy three days after the two sides finalized the five-point roadmap during a meeting of Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of an Organization. of Shanghai Cooperation (OCS). ) meet in Moscow on Thursday.
There was no immediate response to the Chinese envoy’s comments from Indian officials.
Despite the roadmap, strong divergences persisted between the two sides, with experts pointing out that the joint statement issued after the Jaishankar-Wang meeting did not mention the restoration of the status quo in LAC as it existed in April.
Sun said the five-point consensus, which includes following the consensus of top leaders, easing tensions, maintaining peace and tranquility in border areas, continuing diplomatic communications, and accelerating work on new confidence-building measures. , “It is an important step towards the right direction, and will give political impulse to alleviate the border situation and promote bilateral relations.”
He added: “I hope and believe that as long as the two sides seriously implement the consensus reached by the two foreign ministers with the front-line troops and adhere to the correct means of dialogue and negotiation, the two sides will find a way to overcome the current difficulties “.
The Chinese envoy maintained that “public opinion in India” was generally positive towards the five-point road map, and believed that “both sides have shown political will to resolve the border situation.”
However, Sun referred to statements by relevant Indian ministries that Indian troops “got ahead” of Chinese military activity on the southern shore of Lake Pangong, and maintained that this “evidently revealed that there are illegal transfers to LAC and a change of status quo in border areas (sic) “.
He noted that sections of the Indian media had cited government sources to reveal that “the Indian army fired shots on two different occasions,” and said: “For the first time since 1975, the calm in the border areas was broken with gunfire.”
Sun further noted that Wang had reiterated during his meeting with Jaishankar that “it is imperative to immediately stop provocations such as gunfire and other dangerous actions that violate the commitments made by the two parties,” and that it is “important to push back all personnel and equipment. that he has transferred ”.
He added: “The border troops must withdraw quickly so that the situation is reduced. The Chinese side supports an enhanced dialogue between the border troops on both sides to solve specific problems and will stay in contact with the Indian side through diplomatic and military channels.
The Indian side has blamed the tensions in LAC on the unilateral efforts of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to alter the status quo in the Ladakh sector. He has also blamed the latest outbreaks in LAC on “provocative military maneuvers” by the PLA.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the PLA carried out such maneuvers on August 29-30 to change the status quo on the southern shore of Lake Pangong and Indian troops responded with “appropriate defensive measures.” The Indian army accused the PLA of firing into the air when Chinese troops were prevented from approaching an Indian outpost on 7 September.
The Chinese envoy said that the “way forward for [a] the solution is very clear ”- noted the agreement reached by the two foreign ministers that as the situation improves, the two sides should accelerate work on new confidence-building measures to maintain and improve peace and tranquility in border areas.
Sun said the top leaders of the two countries had reached a series of consensuses, including the basic judgment that China and India are partners rather than rivals. “Therefore, we need peace instead of confrontation; we need to seek win-win cooperation rather than a zero-sum game; we need trust instead of suspicion; we have to move our relationship forward instead of backward, “he said.
He reiterated Wang Yi’s observation that it is normal for China and India to have differences, but the important thing is to put these differences in a proper context for bilateral relations. “Today, the challenge we face is fighting the epidemic, reviving the economy and improving people’s livelihoods,” he said.
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