India and China are holding discussions on the ongoing standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and it is work is in progress, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday, noting that the discussions were “confidential”.
Replying to queries at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum 2020 over the LAC standoff, Jaishankar said the two sides had agreed on an early disengagement on the border during his discussion with the Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting. “The discussions are going on and what is going is obviously confidential between us and the Chinese, and we will wait to see how this will play out,” he said.
He said military commander-level talks with the presence of a diplomat have been held. “Yes, I met my Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting. We had a discussion and agreed on an early disengagement on the border. Since then, there have been meeting on-site by the military commanders, assisted by diplomat — that is work in progress. At this moment, I don’t have much of a readout.”
On the chances of an escalation in the border area, Jaishankar said, “The discussion is going on and the work is in progress. The first rule of my business is don’t predict what is still going on. And you can ask this question to me in multiple ways and you are still going to get the same answer.”
India and China have agreed to implement the important understandings reached by the leaders of the two countries not to turn differences into disputes. A statement released after the 7th round of Senior Commanders meeting of India and China held in Chushul on 12 October said the two sides had a sincere, in-depth and constructive exchange of views on disengagement along the LAC. “Both sides agreed to earnestly implement the important understandings reached by the leaders of the two countries, not to turn differences into disputes, and jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” it said.
Even a s Jaishankar called the ongoing talks with China as “work is in progress”, India on Thursday gave a terse response to the Dragon’s “Ladakh’s illegality” remark, saying it has no locus standi to comment on India’s internal matters. The MEA was reacting to China’s remark that its spokesperson made on Ladakh after the opening of 44 bridges in border areas earlier this week.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson had said, “China does not recognise the Ladakh Union Territory illegally set up by the Indian side and the Arunachal Pradesh. We stand against the development of infrastructure facilities aimed at military contention along the border area.”
MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava in a strongly-worded response said, “The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh have been, are, and will remain an integral part of India. China has no locus standi to comment on India›s internal matters.”
Hoping that “countries will not comment on India’s internal matters, as much as they expect the same of others”, Srivastava further said, “Our position on Arunachal Pradesh has also been made clear several times. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. This fact has also been clearly conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions, including at the highest level.”
With agency inputs