SOURCE: ENS
Hours after China accused Indian troops of violating the consensus, India Tuesday hit back and said it has taken up the “matter of recent provocative and aggressive actions” with the Chinese side through both diplomatic and military channels and has “urged them to discipline and control their frontline troops from undertaking such provocative actions”.
In a detailed statement, the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Tuesday, “As you aware, India and China have been closely engaged through diplomatic and military channels over the past three months to resolve the situation along the India-China border. It would also be recalled that earlier the two Foreign Ministers and the two Special Representatives had agreed that the situation should be handled in a responsible manner and either side should not take any provocative action or escalate matters and ensure peace and tranquillity as per bilateral agreements and protocol.”
“The Chinese side however, violated this understanding and engaged in provocative military manoeuvers in the late night of 29th and on 30th August in an attempt to change the status quo in the South Bank area of Pangong Lake. As stated yesterday by Indian Army, the Indian side responded to these provocative actions and took appropriate defensive measures along the LAC in order to safeguard our interests and defend the territorial integrity. Furthermore, yesterday on 31st August, even as the ground commanders of the two sides were in discussions to de-escalate the situation, the Chinese troops again engaged in provocative action. Due to the timely defensive action, the Indian side was able to prevent these attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo,” he said.
“The actions and behaviour of the Chinese side since earlier this year along the LAC has been in clear violation of the bilateral agreements and protocols concluded between the two countries to ensure peace and tranquillity on the border. Such actions are also in complete disregard to the understandings reached between the two Foreign Ministers as also the Special Representatives,” the MEA spokesperson said.
“We have taken up the matter of recent provocative and aggressive actions with Chinese side through both diplomatic and military channels and have urged them to discipline and control their frontline troops from undertaking such provocative actions,” he said.
This came hours after China on Tuesday said that it had lodged diplomatic protests and claimed that Indian troops had “violated” the consensus on August 31 and “illegally trespassed the LAC.
The Chinese embassy spokesperson, Ji Rong, said in a statement, “On August 31st, Indian troops violated the consensus reached in previous multi-level engagements and negotiations between China and India, illegally trespassed the Line of Actual Control again at the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake and near the Reqin Pass in the western sector of China-India border, and conducted flagrant provocations, which again stirred tension in the border areas.”
“India’s move has grossly violated China’s territorial sovereignty, seriously violated relevant agreements, protocols and important consensus reached between the two countries, and severely damaged peace and tranquillity along the China-India border areas. What India has done runs counter to the efforts made by both sides for a period of time to ease and cool down the situation on the ground, and China is resolutely opposed to this,” she said.
