Beijing: China on Monday called for collaborated effort to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas along with respecting the Line of Actual Control and refrain from “hyping up” the boundary issue.
The remarks from the Chinese Foreign Ministry came in response to a recent report that China has lodged a strong protest with New Delhi with the allegation that the Indian troops have “transgressed” in the strategically sensitive Asaphila area along Arunachal Pradesh. India has dismissed such allegations by China.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang avoided a direct response to the report and said, “I do not understand the specific state of affairs that you mentioned that happened recently on the Sino-Indian border”.
“Prior to the resolution of the border issue, it is hoped that the Indian side abide by the agreement protocol, respect and obey the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and refrain from hyping up the issue and work with China to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas,” Mr Geng said.
He made it a point to reiterate China’s earlier stance about Arunachal Pradesh being a part of Southern Tibet as it does not recognize it at all.
“China’s position on the Sino-Indian boundary issue is consistent and clear. The Chinese government has never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.
“Both China and India are negotiating to resolve the boundary issue between the two countries and seek a fair and reasonable solution acceptable to both sides,” he said.
Both the countries, China and India, have Special Representative talks mechanism to get the boundary issue resolved.
To resolve the boundary dispute issue, the two countries held 20 rounds of talks and worked out different mechanisms to keep peace along the 3,488 km-along LAC.
When asked about the recent visit of Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to New Delhi on April 6 and reports of several Indian top ministers visiting China this month, Mr Geng said, “China and India have sound momentum of exchanges and close cooperation. It is not strange to have such kind of cooperation.”
India, as a part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to visit China in June.
Time and again there have been some mixed relations with China with some being positive and others negative. Most recent one is the Doklam faceoff between Indian and Chinese armies. The issue was raised only after Chinese authorities along with the army personnel tried to build a road alongside the Doklam area in Bhutan, which is claimed by the latter for being its part. And India being an ally to the small nation, supported it by sending its own troops against China. But the issue was tactically resolved after some months.
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