India rejects China’s LAC claim while Beijing questions Ladakh status

India and China on Tuesday exchanged sharp statements blaming one another for the persevering with border tensions, with New Delhi describing China’s Line of Actual Control (LAC) claims as “untenable” and Beijing saying it “did not recognise” the Union Territory of Ladakh.

“India has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 Line of Actual Control (LAC),” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, in response to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry that the LAC was “clear” and that “it is the LAC of November 7, 1959”.

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The LAC of 1959 was first referenced in a letter from then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to Jawaharlal Nehru – an idea rejected then by Nehru and subsequently never accepted by India.

“This place has been constant and well-known, together with to the Chinese aspect,” the MEA mentioned, including that each side had, in earlier bilateral border agreements together with the 1993 Agreement on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility alongside the LAC, 1996 Agreement on Confidence Building Measures within the navy subject and 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles, “committed to clarification and confirmation of the LAC to reach a common understanding of the alignment of the LAC.”

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“In reality, the 2 sides had engaged in an train to make clear and ensure the LAC as much as 2003, however this course of couldn’t proceed additional because the Chinese aspect didn’t present a willingness to pursue it,” the MEA mentioned. “Therefore, the insistence now of the Chinese side that there is only one LAC is contrary to the solemn commitments made by China in these agreements…It is the Chinese side which by its attempts to transgress the LAC in various parts of the Western Sector, has tried to unilaterally alter the status quo…We therefore expect that the Chinese side will sincerely and faithfully abide by all agreements and understandings in their entirety and refrain from advancing an untenable unilateral interpretation of the LAC.”

In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in response to a question on India’s border infrastructure projects in Ladakh, said it did not “recognise” Ladakh, reiterating its statements from final yr that described the creation of the union territory as “unlawful” as a result of it included Aksai Chin, at the moment occupied by China, inside its boundaries.

“China has not recognised Ladakh Union Territory, illegally set up by the Indian side,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. “We are against conducting infrastructure improvement for navy functions within the border space. Based on the 2 sides’ consensus, no aspect ought to have interaction within the border areas in any actions that may complicate the state of affairs, to keep away from undermining two sides efforts to ease the state of affairs.”

The statements got here amid a unbroken stalemate alongside the border. Both sides agreed to not add troops to an already tense LAC following the sixth spherical of talks between Corp Commanders on September 21, however there has not but been settlement on disengagement and returning to the status quo previous to May’s transgressions by China.

Asked about China’s personal infrastructure initiatives in border areas and the asymmetry that Beijing has loved due to its infrastructure developments, Mr. Wang mentioned China “consistently and strictly abides by the agreements signed with the Indian side”.

“For a very long time, the Chinese aspect has been conducting actions on the Chinese aspect of the LAC they usually have all the time complied with related agreements,” he mentioned. “We hope for the Indian side to work for the same purpose, together with China, to achieve the cooling of temperature on the ground and to prevent adding complex factors to the two sides concerted efforts to ease the situation.”