Ladakh standoff: India hopes China is sincere about pullback

Amid media reports indicating that China seemed to be going back on its commitment to pull back its troops in the Ladakh sector, India on Thursday said it “expected” China to “sincerely work” with it “for complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas”. Making it clear that “maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is the basis of our bilateral relationship”, New Delhi reiterated it would “not accept any unilateral attempts to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)”.

It also said another meeting of the Working Mechanism  Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) “is also expected to be scheduled soon”.  

On Thursday, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “I have made clear the position of the Government as regards the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along India-China border areas through a number of statements in the last several weeks. ... In my statement of June 26th, I had noted that the conduct of Chinese forces this year, including the deployment of large body of troops and changes in behaviour, accompanied by unjustified and untenable claims, has been in complete disregard of all the mutual agreements.  We have also made it clear that India is fully committed to observing and respecting the LAC and that we will not accept any unilateral attempts to change the status quo along the LAC.”

The MEA Spokesperson further said, “The two sides have agreed during the conversation of the Special Representatives to work towards complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquillity. Both sides are engaged in discussions through the established diplomatic and military channels to achieve this objective expeditiously.  I had informed last week that the 4th round of the meeting of the Senior Commanders was held on 14th July, where they also discussed further steps to ensure complete disengagement.”

The MEA added, “ In this context, another meeting of the Working Mechanism  Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) is also expected to be scheduled soon.  As we have stated earlier, the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is the basis of our bilateral relationship.  Therefore it is our expectation that the Chinese side will sincerely work with us for complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas at the earliest as agreed to by the Special Representatives.”