Lac situation has ‘eroded strategic trust’ nsa doval tells chinese counterpart wang

Lac situation has ‘eroded strategic trust’ nsa doval tells chinese counterpart wang

The two sides agreed that the India-China relationship is “significant not only for the two countries but also for the region and world”

The situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 2020 has “eroded strategic trust” and peace and tranquillity must be restored in the border areas to ensure normal India-China relations, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Doval conveyed India’s position when he met Wang, who is a member of the Communist Party of China’s political bureau and director of the party’s foreign affairs commission, on the margins of a meeting of the NSAs of the Brics (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) grouping in Johannesburg late on Monday.

The meeting came a little more than 10 days after external affairs minister S Jaishankar met Wang on the sidelines of Asean-related meetings in Jakarta on July 14 and discussed the border row, which has taken India-China relations to their lowest point in six decades.

The Indian side has insisted that ties cannot be normalised until peace and tranquillity is restored in Ladakh sector of the LAC.

“During the meeting, NSA conveyed that the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China boundary since 2020 had eroded strategic trust and the public and political basis of the relationship,” the external affairs ministry said in a readout of the meeting.

“NSA emphasised the importance of continuing efforts to fully resolve the situation and restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas, so as to remove impediments to normalcy in bilateral relations,” the readout added.

The two sides agreed that the India-China relationship is “significant not only for the two countries but also for the region and world”.

There was no immediate word from the Chinese side on the meeting, a rare engagement between the NSA and his Chinese equivalent since the start of the military standoff in Ladakh sector in May 2020.

A brutal clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops, the first fatalities along the LAC in 45 years.

The two countries have arrayed close to 50,000 troops each in Ladakh sector of the LAC since 2020, and have been unable to resolve all “friction points” in the region despite more than two dozen rounds of diplomatic and military talks. So far, they have agreed to pull back frontline troops from both banks of Pangong Lake, Gogra and Hot Springs, but there has been no understanding on friction points at Depsang and Demchok.

The Chinese side has said that the border issue should be put in its “appropriate place” in overall bilateral relations while the two countries take forward engagement in other areas such as trade. This has been roundly rejected by India, and Doval’s remarks during the meeting with Wang were a reiteration of this position.

Besides participating in the meeting of Brics NSAs as part of preparations for the grouping’s summit next month, Doval is expected to hold separate meetings with several of his counterparts in Johannesburg.