New Delhi: Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in St. Petersberg on Thursday. They discussed the Ladakh standoff and recent efforts to resolve outstanding issues. They agreed that both nations need to work with “urgency” and “redouble efforts” to achieve complete disengagement in the remaining areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Doval reportedly told the senior Chinese leader that a normal relationship is impossible until peace and tranquillity are restored along the LAC. Respect for LAC is paramount, Doval stressed, adding that regular ties are crucial for the two countries and the region. It “will change the whole world,” he told the Chinese counterpart.
A statement by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said, “Both sides must fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached in the past by the two Governments.”
Doval and Yi also exchanged views on current regional and global issues.
Recently, while speaking at a think-tank interaction in Geneva, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated that India and China have achieved 75% of the disengagement along the LAC.
“Now those negotiations are going on. We made some progress. I would say roughly you can say about 75 per cent of the disengagement problems are sorted out,” Jaishankar said at the event.
Currently, Wang Yi, besides being the Foreign Minister, is also the Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, a Chinese government think-tank that helps the country with intelligence and analysis on matters of foreign affairs.
Jaishankar elaborated on how the border row has impacted the relationship between India and China, “We still have some things to do. But there is a bigger issue that both of us have brought forces close up and in that sense, there is a militarisation of the border. How does one deal with it? I think we have to deal with it. In the meanwhile, after the clash, it has affected the entirety of the relationship because you cannot have violence at the border and then say the rest of the relationship is insulated from it.”
On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, stirred a controversy by claiming that China has occupied land in Ladakh, the size of Delhi. He was speaking at The National Press Club in Washington DC.
“We’ve got Chinese troops occupying land the size of Delhi in Ladakh, and I think that’s a disaster,” he said, adding, “I see no reason why Chinese troops should be sitting in our territory,” he stated.
Gandhi further claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could handle “China Well at all.”
“How would America react if a neighbour occupied 4,000 square kilometres of its territory? Would any president be able to get away with saying he’s handled that well,” he asked.