New Delhi: A broad consensus has been achieved by India and China on restoring the “ground situation” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) pursuant to talks, including for patrolling and grazing cattle in the traditional areas, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.
Speaking at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue 2024, Singh described the agreement reached between the two countries as a “significant development” that underscores the importance of defence dialogue on the global stage.
“India and China have been involved in talks both at military and diplomatic levels to resolve differences in certain areas along the LAC. Pursuant to the talks, a broad consensus has been achieved to restore the ground situation based on the principle of equal and mutual security,” Singh said.
Singh added that the consensus achieved included patrolling and grazing in traditional areas and that this was the power of engaging in dialogues since, sooner or later, solutions emerged.
The areas include Depsang Plains and Demchok, friction points that had, for long, remained unresolved.
Rajnath Singh’s comments incidentally came after the Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi said a couple of days ago that both nations were exploring ways to restore trust at the border.
The foreign secretary had announced that the two countries, through military and diplomatic negotiators, had been in close contact and eventually agreed on an arrangement for patrolling areas along the LAC.
As reported earlier, in Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping spent close to an hour discussing the situation at the border during their bilateral meeting, the first in five years. They also reviewed other aspects of the India-China ties from a “strategic” perspective.
India and China had, since early 2020, been caught in a standoff along the LAC at several friction points.
