Union defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday spoke in the Rajya Sabha on India’s border standoff with China, saying the issue in unsolved. He reiterated that China is not accepting the traditional alignment of the border.
“The border issue is a complex one and needs to be resolved patiently. Both the countries believe that,” said Singh. “There is no commonly delineated Line of Actual Control (LAC),” he added.
Talking about the current situation on the India-China border, Singh said that the Chinese army created obstacles in the Ladakh sector for operations of Indian soldiers who were stationed there as per the agreements between the two countries. He said that Indian troops gave befitting reply to the Chinese soldiers.
“No one should have doubts about our determination to protect the country’s borders,” he said.
Singh also listed the various agreements and common understanding which both India and China arrived at over the years. “But after 2003, China did not show the will to honour these agreements,” the defence minister said.
He also paid tribute to the 20 soldiers killed in Galwan Valley clash with the Chinese soldiers on June 15. Singh also said that the Chinese army suffered casualties in the incident.
The defence minister had made a statement in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the second day of the monsoon session of Parliament, where he said that tension at the border was bound to negatively affect bilateral relations between India and China.
The defence minister had said that India is ready to deal with any situation regarding the India-China border tension.
Singh said that China does not recognise the traditional customary alignment of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the border issue between the two countries remains unresolved.
The two countries have been engaged in a standoff position since April and the Chinese have refused to vacate areas in the Finger area and other friction points in the Eastern Ladakh area.
Multiple rounds of talks have also failed to yield any significant result in defusing the tensions and now the Indian side has prepared itself for long term deployment in the high mountainous region.