External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday praised the successful agreement between the Army and China on patrolling the Line of Actual Control and said the Army had displayed deft diplomacy by working under very unimaginable circumstances. Replying to a question during an interaction with students in Pune, Jaishankar said it would take some time to normalize relations and it will naturally take time to rebuild trust and willingness to cooperate.
He said that when Prime Minister Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia to attend 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.
Jaishankar said: “If we have reached this stage today, one of the reasons is that we have made a very determined effort to stand our ground and keep our promises. The army has to defend the country in very unimaginable circumstances. The problem is, the army India has done its job and has improved its infrastructure over the last decade. Today, we are investing five times more resources every year than we were ten years ago, and the combination of these (factors) has really enabled us to do that effectively. .”has led us to this point. “
“Discussions on finding a solution have been ongoing since 2020”
What I can tell you is that just a few days ago, India announced the signing of an agreement with China to patrol the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, which was a major success in ending the military standoff that lasted more than four years. .In fact, since 2020, the border situation has been very volatile, which has had a negative impact on the overall relationship. In this regard, the Foreign Minister said that since September 2020, India has been negotiating with China on how to find a solution.
The foreign minister said the solution had multiple aspects. The most important thing is to retreat the soldiers, because they are very close to each other and something may happen. Tensions gradually eased as the number of soldiers on both sides increased. Another big issue is how to manage borders and negotiate border agreements. What happens now is related to the first part, which is disintegration.
‘Soldiers will return to base’
Jaishankar said, “India and China have agreed in some places on how troops will return to their bases after 2020, but there is an important clause related to patrols. Patrols are stopped and that is what we talked about last time” Therefore, on October 21 What happened is that in certain areas such as Depsang and Demchok, we reached a consensus that patrols would resume as before. “
