As the Indian Army along with the Special Frontier Force took control of crucial strategic heights in the northern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake, Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe requested for a meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or SCO on Friday with Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Meanwhile, India has asked China to show sincerity and restore peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and border areas. India wants total disengagement and de-escalation in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols.
Rajnath Singh is in Moscow for the SCO Defence Minister meeting and he will be joined by his respective counterparts from Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan who are part of the SCO grouping and China.
When Singh was in Russia to take part in the victory day celebrations amid the spread of the Wuhan Virus, China sent a request for a meeting but at that time no meeting had happened.
Though China has requested for a meeting which will be the highest level talks held between the two nations ever since China took an aggressive poster art the LAC. However, it is not confirmed that if India will agree to China’s request.
India made it very clear that the ongoing situation at the LAC control in Eastern Ladakh is due to “direct result of action” by China.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said,” It is clear that the situation we witness over the past four months is a direct result of the actions taken by the Chinese side that sought to effect unilateral change of status quo”
The MEA spokesperson further added, “Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the southern bank of Pangon Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on the ground,”.
“We reiterate the consensus reached between the two foreign ministers and secretaries that the situation in the border should be handled in a responsible manner and either side should not take any provocative action or escalate matters,” the MEA spokesperson said.
On June 15 Chinese troops ambushed Indian soldiers and in the ensuing battle, India lost 20 soldiers including Col Santosh Babu of Bihar regiment. It is still unknown how many Chinese soldiers had died and unconfirmed reports suggest it is somewhere between 35 to 50 casualties.
India takes strategic heights at Pangong Tso Lake, China requests meeting on sidelines of SCO
