COVID-19 to border aggression: The challenges faced by Indians in China

New Delhi, Aug 15: India's Ambassador to China Vikram Misri sad that Indians both in the country and China are facing twin challenges of a pandemic and aggression at the border.

"As you just heard from the President's address, 2020 has been a very unusual year, including for us here in China. We here, and people in India, of course, have had to face up to the twin challenges of Covid-19 as well as aggression on our borders.

Misri held talks with Major General Ci Guowei, Director of the Office of International Military Cooperation of the Central Military Commission (CMC). Misri briefed him about India's stance on the border issue in eastern Ladakh.

Meanwhile Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said that both sides agreed on the broad principles of disengagement and based on it some progress had been earlier made.

I must add that translating these principles on the ground is a complex process that requires deployment of troops by each side towards their regular posts on their respective side of the Line of Actual Control. It is natural that this can be done only through mutually agreed reciprocal actions, he also said.

He further added that we would like the ongoing disengagement process to be completed at the earliest. It is also important to bear in mind that achieving this requires agreed actions by both sides, Srivastava also added.

Srivastava also said, "we, therefore, expect the Chinese side to sincerely work with us towards the objective of complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas as agreed by the Special Representatives. This is also necessary and essential in the context of overall development of our bilateral relationship. As External Affairs Minister had noted in a recent interview, the state of the border, and the future of our ties cannot be separated."

Misri had earlier met with Liu Jianchaou, the deputy director office of the CPC Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission.

During the meeting, Misri meet Jianchaou of India's stance on the situation on the borders on easter Ladakh and the overall bilateral relations.

The meeting was important considering the influence Liu holds with the CPC's foreign affairs division. He would be able to convey the need to resolve the border row at a political level. Sources tell OneIndia that New Delhi is looking for another round of official talks through an established diplomatic channel. The talks are likely to take place next week, the official cited above also said.