Just days after Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with his Chinese counterpart in Russia, S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday (Sept 10) evening in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings.
Just as Singh had told his counterpart that New Delhi will not permit any unilateral change in status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Jaishankar also reiterated the same stance at the meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister. He said that the Indian Army troops had ‘scrupulously followed all agreements and protocols pertaining to the management of the border areas’
During the meeting, India expressed its strong concerns about the large troop and hardware deployment of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the border areas in Eastern Ladakh.
India said that such large troop presence is counterproductive and it was not in accordance with bilateral pacts of 1993 and 1996 on border issues.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar made it clear that an ‘urgent resolution of the current situation was in the interest of both the nations’.
A joint statement was issued calling for disengagement of troops and for the military commanders of two sides to work out the process.