Asserting that nobody wants an unsettled border, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane on Wednesday said that the relationship with China would develop along the path as per India’s wishes.
“Whatever we did as a government, as a nation has shown that the resolve that we have in maintaining our interest foremost. I think with this Whole-of-Government approach, our relations with China would develop along the path that we wish to develop,” Naravane said during a virtual conference on the ‘role of the Indian Army in dealing with contemporary national security challenges’.
“As two neighbours who would like to have peace and tranquillity on their borders and who would like all the other engagements which have been going on in the past should continue also in the future. Nobody wants an unsettled border,” he added.
Commenting upon the India-China disengagement, the Army Chief said, “What we have achieved so far is very good and it is a very good end result—win-win situation.”
“The agreement signed with any country is premised on the fact that it will be observed in letter and spirit. We will trust, but we verify. We have put systems in place to make sure that there is no re-occupation of these heights and it is part of the agreement. If it is violated then you have violated the spirit. We can only hope that China and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) adhere to these principles and agreements in toto, and that has been our stand from the beginning. If those agreements adhere to letter and spirit, then most of the issues which are pending between the countries would get resolved automatically,” he added.
The disengagement process from both the north and south banks of Pangong Lake was completed by the two nations and further disengagement is underway at other friction points.
Both the armies of India and China have agreed for disengagement in few areas and military troops have also been removed to maintain a status of pre-face-off that happened last year.
India and China have had a stand-off along the LAC since April-May last year due to actions of the Chinese Army and have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks.
WITH ANI INPUTS
