India carefully monitors developments along its borders: MEA on US General's 'alarming' comment

New Delhi, Jun 9: India on Thursday said it expects China to work with it to reach a mutually acceptable solution for the remaining issues in eastern Ladakh in the next round of military talks as both sides agreed that prolongation of the existing situation is not in the interest of either side or overall relations. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also said that India carefully monitors developments along its border areas including the construction of infrastructure by China in eastern Ladakh as well as in depth areas.

His comments came when asked about comments by US Army's Pacific Commanding General Charles A Flynn that the Chinese activities across Ladakh are "eye-opening". Bagchi said he would not like to comment on what Gen Flynn said. "The government of India carefully monitors developments along our border areas including construction of infrastructure by the Chinese side in the Western sector as well as that being undertaken further in depth areas," he said.

The government refers to eastern Ladakh as Western Sector. The Indian and Chinese militaries are locked in a bitter faceoff in the region for over two years. "The government is committed to and takes all adequate and appropriate measures to safeguard territorial integrity and sovereignty as the developments in recent years have clearly demonstrated," Bagchi said. "The government of India has taken various measures in recent years to develop infrastructure along the border areas to not only meet India's strategic and security requirements but also facilitate the economic development of these areas," he said.

About the current situation in eastern Ladakh, Bagchi referred to a decision by the two sides last week to hold the next round of round Senior Commanders' meeting at an early date. The decision was taken at a virtual meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on the India-China Border Affairs. "Our expectation is that in these talks, the Chinese side will work with the Indian side to reach a mutually acceptable solution for the remaining issues given that both sides also agreed that prolongation of existing situation is not in the interest of either side or overall relations," he said.

"We have always maintained that restoration of normalcy will obviously require restoration of peace and tranquillity along the LAC (Line of Actual Control) which had been disturbed by the Chinese actions in 2020," he said. Bagchi said the Indian side has maintained continuous communication with the Chinese side, both through diplomatic and military channels. "There have been 15 rounds of senior commanders" meetings and 10 rounds of meetings of the WMCC. We have also had communication at the level of foreign ministers, the defence ministers, the NSA and his counterpart," Bagchi said.

"This has led to some progress as both sides successfully disengaged in a number of areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. We will maintain our dialogue with the Chinese side to resolve the remaining issues," he said. As a result of the military talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area. India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the overall development of the bilateral ties. Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive sector. PTI