India says its stand on Galwan Valley historical, China 'not in sync' with its own position

India on Saturday said that its soldiers had been patrolling the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh for a long time without any incident and that it would not accept the new “exaggerated and untenable claims” made by China.

New Delhi also stated that its position on the Galwan Valley is “historically clear” and Beijing’s recent claims on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto border between the two nations – is not in sync with its “own position in the past”.

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India accused the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel of hindering the “normal, traditional patrolling pattern” of its soldiers in the Galwan Valley since early last month, resulting in a face-off, which had been resolved by the local commanders of the two sides in accordance with the established mechanism. It, however, said that the clash between the soldiers of the two nations in the region on June 15 had taken place because the Chinese PLA personnel had departed from the understanding reached at the June 5 meeting of the Corps Commander of the two sides.

Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), later said that the Corps Commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA had agreed on “a process for de-escalation and disengagement along the LAC” involving “reciprocal actions”.

“Both sides had agreed to respect and abide by the LAC and not undertake any activity to alter the status quo,” the MEA spokesperson said on Saturday. “However,” the MEA spokesperson added, “the Chinese side departed from these understandings in respect of the LAC in the Galwan Valley area and sought to erect structures just across the LAC. When this attempt was foiled, Chinese troops took violent actions on June 15, 2020 that directly resulted in casualties.”

Srivastava’s statement was in response to the step-by-step account of the clash released by his counterpart in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government, Zhao Lijian, on Friday.

“Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the LAC in all sectors of the India-China border areas, including in the Galwan Valley. They abide by it scrupulously here, as they do elsewhere,” he said, adding: “The Indian side has never undertaken any actions across the LAC. In fact, they have been patrolling this area for a long time without any incident. All infrastructure built by the Indian side is naturally on its own side of the LAC.”

“We do not accept the contention that India was unilaterally changing the status quo. On the contrary, we were maintaining it,” said Srivastava, dismissing Zhao’s statement that the Indian Army had unilaterally tried to change the status quo along the LAC.

The MEA spokesperson also said that the Chinese PLA had in mid-May attempted to transgress the LAC in other areas of the Western Sector of the India-China border areas. “These attempts were invariably met with an appropriate response from us. Thereafter, the two sides were engaged in discussions through established diplomatic and military channels to address the situation arising out of Chinese activities on the LAC,” he said, giving New Delhi’s version of the incidents leading to the stand-off on the northern bank of Pangong Tso and other places along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

He referred to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s phone-call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday. “We expect that the Chinese side will sincerely follow the understanding reached between the Foreign Ministers to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas, which is so essential for the overall development of our bilateral relations,” said Srivastava.