China’s Defence Minister Gen Li in India to delink LAC row
Gen Li commented at a meeting with his Indian partner Rajnath Singh on Thursday, according to a readout given by China’s defence ministry on Friday.
China has again aimed to delink the deadlock with India on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) from the overall bilateral connection, with defence minister Gen Li Shangfu explaining the situation as “generally stable” and asking for the border problem to be put in its “appropriate position”.
In New Delhi to attend a conference of defence ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) states, Gen Li commented at a meeting with his Indian partner Rajnath Singh on Thursday, according to a readout given by China’s defence ministry on Friday.
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The Chinese position is considerably variance from the perspective taken by Rajnath Singh that the growth of bilateral connections is “premised on the majority of truce and tranquillity at the borders.” Singh also said infringing existing border management arrangements had “corrupted the fundamental basis of bilateral relations”.
The military stalemate on the LAC, which started three years back, has resulted in India and China deploying nearly 50,000 soldiers each in the Ladakh sector. A fierce conflict at Galwan Valley in June 2020 killed 20 Indian troops and at least four Chinese soldiers, bringing bilateral relations to their lowest point in sixty years.
