India-China stand-off: Delhi adopts diplomatic dialogue route with Beijing to resolve border issue

Last updated on February 13th, 2023 at 04:50 pm

To resolve the brewing border issue with China, India has taken the route of diplomatic dialogue, while declining US President, Donald Trump’s offer to mediate. India avoided US meddling into the border dispute, which it referred to as an internal matter between the two countries. In order to resolve Delhi-Beijing standoff over skirmish between the border forces in Sikkim and Ladakh, on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs’ spokesman Anurag Srivastava said that India was “engaged with the Chinese side to peacefully resolve the issue.

Mr. Srivastava added, that Indian forces stationed at the Line of Actual Control conduct themselves “responsibly” at the border while “strictly following protocol”. However, sources claim that despite dialogues making way for a placative note from China, Chinese troops haven’t moved back after coming in the forward areas, near the points of the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.“There has been no withdrawal of the Chinese troops and neither there has been the addition of any new troops at the LAC. It’s a status quo-like situation,” the sources said.

India spokesman, in a virtual press briefing, negated the Chinese claims of contention that Indian troops had not violated the LAC.“India is committed to the objective of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas with China and our armed forces scrupulously follow the consensus reached by our leaders and the guidance provided. At the same time, we remain firm in our resolve to ensuring India’s sovereignty and national security,” he said.

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He added that the Indian army has a “very responsible approach towards border management and strictly follow the procedures laid out in various bilateral agreements and protocols with China to resolve any issue that may arise in the border areas”.

Despite taking the peaceful route, India stands firm on its resolve to ensure its safety and sovereignty at the borders. Indian troops are on high alert and have been asked to keep a close eye on the movement of Chinese PLA soldiers. Besides ministerial talks, both the armies are also holding brigade-level talks to resolve the Ladakh border row.

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