India, China agree to settle border dispute ‘peacefully’

NEW DELHI: India and China have decided to resolve a dispute over their shared border in the Ladakh region through diplomatic channels, the Indian foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The statement came a day before the top generals of the two countries are due to meet near the site of their border standoff to try and find a way to de-escalate the situation.

The Indian foreign affairs ministry said both sides would first focus on getting both the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army to pull back additional troops and equipment deployed in the Ladakh border.

Soldiers from both sides have been camped out in the Galwan Valley in the high-altitude Ladakh region.

The foreign affairs ministry statement said that senior officials of the two countries held a video conference and agreed that the two sides should handle their differences through peaceful manners and should not permit their forces to become to be disputed.

A spokesperson of China’s foreign affairs ministry Geng Shuang, talking to reporters said that the overall situation in the China-India border areas was currently unwavering and controllable.

According to the statement posted on China’s foreign affairs ministry website, the spokesman said “Maintaining close communication through diplomatic and military channels, both sides are working to “properly resolve relevant issues.”

Both sides recalled the consensus reached by their two leaders that peaceful, stable and balanced relations between India and China would be positive for stability in the current worldwide situation, the Indian statement said.

Tensions between India and China are not new. The two countries—which share the world’s longest unmarked border—fought a full-fledged war in 1962 and have since engaged in several small battles.

The most recent clashes took place earlier this month. On May 5, Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed near the Pangong Tso Lake in Ladakh. It is believed that the clash took place because the PLA had objected to Indian military patrols in the area.

Most of these clashes apparently stop from differing assessments of the site of the so-called Line of Actual Control—the actual international border. Then on May 9, at an altitude of 15,000 feet, in the Naku La region near Tibet, soldiers from both sides came to blows and threw stones at each other.

Mostly in efforts to induce the Indian troops to move back from the areas they were patrolling. Several Indian soldiers were injured, including a senior Indian officer. Reports suggested that Indian soldiers were beaten by the Chinese army and several were also arrested.

After which the Indian Army Chief had briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the incident.

During the briefing, the Indian Army Chief had termed the move of the Chinese Army as a severe shock to India and said that the withdrawal of Indian troops is very important, after which the Indian administration jumped into the matter.

On behalf of India, the Indian top officials had made requests to China, on which China took pity and released Indian troops.