India calls for early pull back of militaries from China border

While calling for an early completion of disengagement in remaining friction areas, India on Thursday said disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh was unfinished.

“An early completion of disengagement in remaining areas could lead to de-escalation of forces in eastern Ladakh, which would hopefully lead to full restoration of tranquility in the border areas and enable overall progress in the bilateral relationship,” Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said during a weekly media briefing.

On April 9, India and China had held 11th round of the Corps Commander-level talks at the Chushul border point on the Indian side of the LAC in eastern Ladakh. The two sides had a detailed exchange of views for the resolution of the remaining issues related to disengagement along the LAC.

The two sides agreed on the need to resolve the outstanding issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols. They had also agreed to jointly maintain stability on the ground, avoid any incidents and jointly maintain peace in the border areas.

Yet a new development is seen along the LAC as China and Pakistan have started joint military exercises in Tibet since May 22. The exercise comes in the backdrop of a recent move by the PLA, which has for the first time, integrated its units with air-defence assets with PLA-Air Force along the LAC.

This has raised a fresh concern in the Indian camp even as armed forces have left nothing to chance. “The two sides have agreed that in the interim, they would maintain stability on ground and avoid any new incident. It is our expectation, therefore, that neither side should do anything that is not in keeping with these understandings,” the MEA Spokesperson said.

Earlier in an interview with the Financial Times, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said the relationship between India and China was at a “crossroads.” “If you disturb the peace and tranquility, if you have bloodshed…if there is intimidation, if there is continuing friction on the border, then obviously there is going to tell on the relationship,” the EAM had said.