LAC Talks: India, China Blame Each Other Even After Defence Ministers’ Meeting

Moscow: India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in Moscow.

But despite their two-and-a-half hour deliberations — the first meeting between the two defence ministers since the start of the border tensions in May — differences continued to persist between the two nations as they once again blamed each other over continued tensions in the Line of Actual Control (LAC) around Ladakh region.

India told China categorically that “actions of the Chinese troops, including amassing of large number of troops, their aggressive behaviour and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo were in violation of the bilateral agreements and not in keeping with the understandings reached between the Special Representatives of two sides,” according to a Defence Ministry statement on Saturday.

However, the statement issued by China’s Defence Ministry says Wei told Singh that the responsibility of the tensions “lies entirely with India”.

There have been talks on disengagement and de-escalation at several levels between the two sides for the past two months, especially after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a bloody skirmish with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley on June 15.

But just when it seemed that dialogue was bearing fruit, things went back to square one with further violations from the Chinese side.

Even the high-profile meeting between the defence ministers failed to bring about any progress towards a resolution of the crisis in Ladakh region.

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