The misadventure of China at Line of Actual Control (LAC) in April this year and its arrogance in seeing logics and on prolonging the face off, has further deteriorated the Indo-Chinese understanding to defuse the volatile situation at eastern Ladakh. Instead of trust building for ensuring peace at LAC and for entering a result oriented dialogue, China has, true to its colours started shifting positions on broader understanding and agreements with India in the past.
Chinese have now indulged into provoking India with its unilateral and irrational interpretation of LAC taking it back to 1959. India has rejected China's position that it abides by its 1959 stand on the perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Delhi has asked Beijing to refrain from advancing an ‘untenable unilateral' interpretation of the de-facto border.
The Indian Foreign Ministry has rightly rejected the stand now taken by China insisting that it takes the 1959 line on perception of the LAC. Amid a nearly five-month-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh, the statement has triggered a strong reaction from India.
Replying to a question by the media on the issue MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “India has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 Line of Actual Control (LAC). This position has been consistent and well known, including to the Chinese side.”
He said this after a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson told an Indian newspaper that China abides by the LAC as proposed by then Premier Zhou Enlai to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter dated 7 November, 1959.
Srivastava referred to various bilateral agreements including the 1993 agreement on maintenance of peace and tranquillity along the LAC, 1996 pact on confidence building measures (CBMs) and the 2005 agreement on political parameters and guiding principles for settlement of the boundary issue, to emphasise that both sides showed commitment to reach a common understanding of the alignment of the LAC.
“Therefore, the insistence now of the Chinese side that there is only one LAC is contrary to the solemn commitments made by China in these agreements,” he said and added that the Indian side has always respected and abided by the LAC. At a time when peace efforts are being made by both sides, China should stop making such provocative statements.
China must understand that his bluff will no more get uncaught this time and she stands fully exposed of his expansionist bully. It is good that at highest political level the India's posturing is mature while militarily it does not leave any scope for Chinese to stab in the back as it has been doing since the days of JL Nehru.
