China urges India to refrain from taking any complicating move on border area

Beijing: China on Wednesday urged India to refrain from taking any complicating move and work with it to create enabling conditions for the development of bilateral relations as well as peace and stability in the border areas.

“We urge Indian side to work with China, refrain from taking any complicating move so as to create enabling conditions for the development of our bilateral relations and peace and stability in the border areas,” Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during his regular briefing here while responding to a question about China-India cureent border standoff near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector.

He said the Chinese side was conducting normal patrol along its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman had also urged India to uphold the peace and tranquility in the border regions with its concrete actions after clashes between the soldiers of the two countries erupted on Sikkim border region last week.

In the incident, several Chinese and Indian soldiers were injured after throwing stones and fighting each other.

Zhao Lijian reiterated that China’s position on the border issues was consistent and clear and the Chinese border troops had been upholding peace and tranquility along the border area.

Asked if border issue with India was related to other disagreements with the Modi government such as efforts to lure businesses out of China, he said, “The two sides stay in diplomatic communication on the relevant border issue.”

Indian media claimed that at least a couple of Chinese military helicopters were spotted flying close to the un-demarcated China-India border in the area after the fierce face-off on May 5 following which a fleet of Sukhoi-30 jets of the Indian Air Force too carried out sorties there.

The troops on both sides held on to their respective positions and even reinforcements were brought in an apprehension of further escalation in tension, they said when asked about the face-off.

The tension was still prevailing in the area, though both sides agreed to disengage during a meeting of local commanders on May 6.

The Chinese and Indian troops were engaged in two face-offs near Naku La pass in Northern Sikkim last week, leaving several soldiers on both side injured.

In the first incident, scores of Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed along the northern bank of the Pangong Lake in Eastern Ladakh on the late evening of May 5 and the face-off ended next morning following a dialogue between the two sides.

A number of soldiers on both sides sustained minor injuries as they exchanged punches and resorted to throwing stones on each other.

It was the first case of troops from both sides exchanging blows after a similar incident had taken place around the Pangong Lake in August 2017.

The Chinese and Indian troops were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017.

The China-India border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries.

Both the sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.