External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that the agreement with China on patrolling the Line of Actual Control did not mean the issues between the two countries had been resolved, although the troop withdrawal gave time to consider the next step. There is a chance. He credited the agreement to the military working under “very unimaginable” circumstances.
“As for the latest step (withdrawal), we reached an agreement on October 21 to conduct patrols in Depsang and Demchok. This will give us something to think about,” Jaishankar said at an event organized in Pune. “One step at a time.” That’s not the case. “Everything has been resolved, but this is only the first phase of the withdrawal, which we have successfully reached.”
Building trust takes time – Jaishankar
Replying to a question during an interaction with students, Jaishankar said it would still take some time for relations to normalize. He said rebuilding trust and working together will naturally take time. He said that when Prime Minister Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia during the BRICS Summit, it was decided that the foreign ministers and national security advisers of the two countries would meet to discuss how to proceed.
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brought honor to the army
“If we have made it this far, it is because we have worked very hard to stand our ground and make our point,” Jaishankar said. He said India had improved its infrastructure over the past decade. One problem, he said, was that infrastructure at the border was effectively neglected in the early years.
“Today we are committing five times more resources every year than we were a decade ago, and that is bearing fruit and enabling the military to deploy really effectively,” Jaishankar said. “A combination of these (factors) has led to this.”
Relations between the two countries have been affected
A few days ago, India and China reached an agreement to withdraw their troops and patrol the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, which is a major success in ending the standoff that lasted more than four years. Since 2020, the border situation has been very volatile, which has undoubtedly had a negative impact on the overall relationship. He said that since September 2020, India has been negotiating with China to find a solution.
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The foreign minister said the solution had multiple aspects. The most important thing is to retreat the soldiers, because the distance is very close and something is very likely to happen. He said tensions must be eased due to increased troop numbers on both sides.
Said something about patrol
“How to manage borders and negotiate border agreements. Everything happening now is related to the first phase, which is the withdrawal,” the foreign minister said. He said India and China had agreed in some places on how troops would return to base after 2020, but an important part of that had to do with patrolling.
Jaishankar said: “Patrols were stopped and this was something we had been trying to negotiate for the past two years. So what happened on October 21 was that in these specific areas of Depsang and Demchok, we agreed to continue as before Patrols resumed.”
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After the signing of the agreement, the two countries have begun to withdraw their troops from the confrontation points in Demchok and Depsang plains in eastern Ladakh. This process may be completed from October 28 to 29.
