{"id":30626,"date":"2020-07-31T08:02:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T02:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=30626"},"modified":"2020-07-31T08:02:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T02:32:22","slug":"clarifying-lac-could-create-new-disputes-chinese-envoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=30626","title":{"rendered":"Clarifying LAC could create new disputes: Chinese envoy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cChina\u2019s traditional customary boundary line is in accordance with the LAC\u201d on the northern bank of Pangong Lake, Sun Weidong says.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"China\u2019sChina\u2019s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong addresses a webinar on July 30, 2020. Photo: Twitter\/@ics_delhi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

China was not in favour of resuming the process of clarifying the Line of Actual Control (LAC) because it could \u201ccreate new disputes\u201d, its Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

He said China\u2019s troops were on its side of the \u201ctraditional customary boundary line\u201d on the northern bank of Pangong Lake, where disengagement between the two sides is yet to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is expected to be taken up later this week at the fifth round of talks between the Corps Commanders of both armies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said \u201cthere has been some progress made\u201d towards complete disengagement along the LAC, \u201cbut the disengagement process has as yet not been completed\u201d. \u201cThe Senior Commanders of the two sides will meet in the near future to work out steps in this regard,\u201d MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s Defence Ministry said on Thursday the situation \u201ctends toward de-escalation and the disengagement between the border troops of the two countries is [being] gradually carried forward.\u201d While the Foreign Ministry said earlier this week border troops \u201ccompleted disengagement in most localities\u201d, defence sources said it had only been \u201cpartial\u201d in some spots, such as Patrolling Point 17A in Gogra-Hot Springs and Pangong Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

At Pangong Lake, following earlier talks, Chinese troops pulled back from the base of Finger 4, where Beijing\u2019s\u2019s claimed border is, and moved to Finger 5, still well within where India sees the LAC at Finger 8. The \u2018fingers\u2019 are mountain spurs on the northern bank of the lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Chinese envoy said, \u201cChina\u2019s traditional customary boundary line is in accordance with the LAC\u201d on the northern bank of the lake. \u201cThere is no such case that China has expanded its territorial claim,\u201d he said, speaking at a webinar organised by the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) in New Delhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cChina hopes that [Indian] border troops will strictly abide by the relevant bilateral agreements and protocols, and refrain from illegally crossing the LAC to the Chinese side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Asked if this summer\u2019s clashes, marking the worst violence on the border since 1967, had reinforced the need to resume the process to clarify the LAC that had been stalled since 2002, Mr. Sun said \u201cif one side unilaterally delimits the LAC as per its own understanding during the negotiations, that could create new disputes and that would be a departure from the original purpose of clarification of the LAC.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe original purpose of clarification of the LAC is to maintain peace and tranquility in border areas,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we look back into history, we will find that if one side has unilaterally put its own perception of the LAC during the negotiations, that will create new disputes. I think that is why the process cannot move on.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Galwan casualties<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Asked if China would confirm the number of casualties on its side from the June 15 clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed, he said, \u201cWhat we are now doing is to make joint efforts to de-escalate the situation and ease the tension along border areas. We hope India can understand the goodwill from the Chinese side to not make contradictions even more higher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ashok Kantha, former ambassador to China and director of the ICS, said \u201ceven experienced Indian diplomats who are deeply invested in this relationship are speaking of the need for a reset in ties\u201d and the policy of compartmentalising the boundary dispute \u201chad now run its course\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mr. Sun said he differed with the view that relations were at a turning point or would be reset. \u201cBasic national conditions as two largest developing neighbours remain unchanged, orientation of being partners, of friendly cooperation and common development remain unchanged, the general structure that we can\u2019t live without each other remains unchanged, and China\u2019s basic policy towards India is unchanged,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

He expressed concern at calls for India to adjust its China policy, including on Taiwan and Hong Kong. \u201cTaiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Xizang [Tibet] affairs are totally China\u2019s internal affairs,\u201d he said, \u201cand bear on China\u2019s sovereignty and security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

With inputs from The Hindu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cChina\u2019s traditional customary boundary line is in accordance with the LAC\u201d on the northern bank of Pangong Lake, Sun Weidong says. China\u2019s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong addresses a webinar on July 30, 2020. Photo: Twitter\/@ics_delhi China was not in favour of resuming the process of clarifying the Line of Actual Control (LAC) because it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}