China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson rubbished India’s argument that Beijing broke the border-related agreements, and said Beijing’s stand is that both countries should follow through on treaties.
Beijing, Feb 14 (Agencies): China on Monday accused India for the dragging border conflict in eastern Ladakh, a day after India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar said the current boundary deadlock arose because Beijing disregarded written bilateral agreements not to amass troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
“As to China-India relations the merits of the matters are very clear and responsibility does not rest with China,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin said on Monday.
Wang was responding to questions on remarks Jaishankar made in Melbourne during and after the foreign ministers’ meeting under the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) over the weekend.
Wang said New Delhi and Beijing were in communication to improve management of the border. “Now the two sides are in communication on improving the border management and the measures to build trust. We hope the Indian-side will abide by our agreements, do not issue irresponsible remarks and uphold the peace and tranquillity along the border region with concrete actions,” Wang added.
Rubbishing India’s argument that Beijing broke the border-related agreements, Wang said Beijing’s stand is that both countries should follow through on treaties.
“On the border issue, China always maintains that we should follow through on treaties and agreements we signed and we jointly uphold peace and tranquillity at the border region,” Wang said. “We hope the two sides will continue to maintain communication through military and diplomatic channels to resolve the outstanding issues.”
In unusually direct words, Jaishankar said the “…situation has arisen due to the disregard by China in 2020 of written agreements with us, not to amass forces at the border. So, when a large country disregards written commitments, I think it’s an issue of legitimate concern for the entire international community.”
India and China have been locked in a border standoff since May, 2020 and several rounds of military and diplomatic talks have only resulted in partial disengagement of troops from friction points.
