EAM S Jaishankar
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The mutual withdrawal of frontline troops by the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from the face-off points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) opened up the possibility of other steps required to bring the relations between the two nations back on track, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.
He, however, noted that a large number of Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers were still deployed along the LAC.
Jaishankar made the comments at an event in Brisbane, Australia a day after a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated in New Delhi that the verification patrolling had been started in Depsang and Demchok along the LAC in accordance with the October 21 agreement between the two sides.
“There are very large numbers of Chinese troops deployed along the Line of Actual Control, who were not there before 2020. And we, in turn, have counter deployed. There are other aspects of the relationship, which also got affected during this period,” said Jaishankar. “So clearly, we have to see after the disengagement, what direction we should go. But, we do think the disengagement is a welcome step. It opens up the possibility that other steps could happen,” the external affairs minister added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on October 23 had a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the BRICS summit at Kazan in Russia.
The Modi-Xi meeting at Kazan in Russia was the first between the two leaders in five years and it followed an agreement between the two sides on the arrangement of patrolling by the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in Depsang and Demchok areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between the two nations – in eastern Ladakh.
The deal between New Delhi and Beijing on the arrangement of patrolling in Depsang and Demchok marked the end of the military stand-off, which started along the LAC in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020 and continued for more than four years, bringing the bilateral relations to a new low.
“You know, our relations were very, very disturbed for reasons all of you know. We have made some progress in what we call disengagement,” Jaishankar said while responding to a question during an event in Brisbane on Sunday.