In this Sept. 14, 2017 file photo, Pangong Lake is seen near the India-China border in the Ladakh area of India. (AP Photo / Manish Swarup, file)
In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said that China’s insistence on the location of LAC runs contrary to commitments made by it in various bilateral agreements in 1993, 1996 and 2005.
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- Last update: September 29, 2020 11:05 PM IST
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India on Tuesday rejected China’s claims about the position of the Royal Line of Control (LAC) in Ladakh, stating that it has never accepted the location of LAC in border areas that was unilaterally defined by China in 1959.
China’s position expressed by its Foreign Ministry insisting that it take the 1959 line on the perception of LAC amid a nearly five-month-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh prompted a strong reaction from India.
In a statement, Foreign Ministry (MEA) spokesman Anurag Srivastava said that China’s insistence on the location of LAC runs counter to commitments made by the country in various bilateral agreements in 1993, 1996 and 2005.
The spokesperson’s comments came after a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Hindustan Times that China complies with LAC as proposed by then-Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter dated November 7, 1959.
Under these bilateral agreements, including the 1993 Agreement for the maintenance of peace and tranquility throughout LAC, the 1996 Agreement on confidence-building measures (CBM) in the military field, the 2005 Protocol on the implementation of CBM, the 2005 Agreement on Policy Parameters and Guidelines. Principles for the settlement of the India-China border issue, both India and China have committed to clarifying and confirming the LAC to reach a common understanding of the LAC alignment.
The two parties had engaged in an exercise to clarify and confirm the LAC until 2003, but this process could not continue as the Chinese side showed no willingness to follow it, the statement said.
India has always respected and complied with LAC, Srivastava said, adding that Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had recently declared in Parliament: “It is the Chinese side, which with its attempts to transgress the LAC in various parts of the western sector , has attempted to unilaterally alter the status quo. “
In recent months, the Chinese side has repeatedly asserted that the current situation in the border areas should be resolved in accordance with the agreements signed between the two countries, Srivastava said.
In the agreement reached between Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart on September 10, the Chinese side has reiterated its commitment to abide by all existing agreements, the statement said.
“Therefore, we hope that the Chinese side will sincerely and faithfully comply with all agreements and understandings in their entirety and refrain from promoting an untenable untenable interpretation of LAC,” said Srivastava.
India is hastily building a strategic highway near the village of Chilling in Ladakh, about 250 km (150 miles) west of the area where Indian and Chinese troops are caught in the most serious confrontation in decades. When ready, the road will provide the only year-round access to large parts of Ladakh, including the border area. That will go some way to putting India on a par with China, which has a network of roads and helipads on its side of the border.
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