Beijing/New Delhi: China on Wednesday said the situation along the Sino-India border is “generally stable at the moment” while declining to comment on reports of stepped-up Chinese military activity near the Arunachal Pradesh border.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the comments while responding to media queries about whether there has been a recent military incident with India and if China has increased its military activity near the state, which China claims as part of South Tibet.
“The China-India border situation is generally stable at the moment,” Guo said.
But India’s foreign ministry said peace along its disputed border with China is critical to ties between the Asian neighbours, amid reports of renewed military tensions between the two countries’ troops in a remote corner of the Himalayas.
New Delhi’s comment is its second in less than a week and comes as the Asian giants seek to mend ties following deadly clashes in 2020. It also comes ahead of a summit of BRICS countries in New Delhi from Sep 12 to Sep 13 that Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend.
“In matters relating to the border areas between India and China, we have always emphasised in discussions with the Chinese side that we consider these issues as most serious,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Tuesday at a regular media briefing.
“We have also stated that the state of the border affairs will reflect on the state of our larger bilateral ties,” he added, responding to a question on new military tensions between the two sides.
