China’s Unilateral Attempt To Change Status Quo On LAC Not Acceptable: Defence Minister

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said China has been firmly told that any attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo on the Line of Actual Control is not acceptable and India’s armed forces are ready to deal with ‘all contingencies’ in Ladakh region.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha on the border tension with China along the Line of Actual Control  (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, Singh said he would not hesitate to admit that India is facing a challenge in Ladakh. But he assured the House that the armed forces will always rise to the challenge.

On Galwan Valley clashes on June 15, Singh said Indian soldiers “inflicted costs including casualties on Chinese side”.

Referring to his talks with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of a meeting in Moscow recently, Singh said he made it amply clear that though India wants to resolve the issue peacefully, there should be no doubt on its capability to protect its sovereignty.

“I conveyed in clear terms our concerns related to the actions of the Chinese side, including amassing of large number of troops, their aggressive behaviour and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo that were in violation of the bilateral agreements,” he said.

He also spoke on five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10.

Singh said China is in illegal occupation of 38,000 square km of Indian land in Ladakh and considers another 90,000 square km in the eastern sector of the India-China boundary in Arunachal Pradesh as its own. In addition, under the so-called Sino-Pakistan ‘Boundary Agreement’ of 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to China.