NEW DELHI, 19 Jun: India will not allow any unilateral attempt by China to change the status quo or alter the line of actual control (LAC), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday, while asserting that, through an enormous logistical effort, the country had countered the Chinese at the LAC in eastern Ladakh.
Talking about the eastern Ladakh border row, Jaishankar said that China, in violation of the 1993 and 1996 agreements not to mass troops on the LAC, chose to do so, and added that its attempt was obviously to unilaterally change the LAC.
“Even though we were in the midst of Covid-19 at that time, through an enormous logistical effort, which I think sometimes has not been adequately recognised by people, by analysts, even in our politics in this country, we were actually able to counter them at the LAC,” Jaishankar said at a town hall organised by CNN-News18.
He also said that the talks with China have not come to an end.
At the Delhi Dialogue on Thursday, Jaishankar had asserted that the development of India-China ties has to be based on mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutuality of interests.
He had also said that the state of the border will be reflected on the state of the Sino-India relationship.
The remarks came amid a standoff between India and China that began in early May of 2020. As a result of military talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of Pangong Lake and in the Gogra area.
India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC are key for the overall development of the bilateral ties. (PTI)
