China-India ties depend on ‘peace and tranquillity at the borders’, Indian defence minister says

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Violations of agreements on the contentious India-China border “eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations”, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart in New Delhi on Thursday.

Singh also told visiting Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu that bilateral ties were premised on the “prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders”, a statement from India’s Ministry of Defence said.

The defence ministers of the two countries had not publicly met since September 2020, when General Wei Fenghe, Li’s predecessor, talked to Singh in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers’ meeting, three months after a clash in the Galwan Valley left at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops dead.

Li’s trip to India for the SCO meeting of defence ministers on Friday marked the first visit by a Chinese defence minister since the deadly clash.

“[Singh] reiterated that violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation,” the Indian ministry said.

The countries fought each other in a war in 1962 over the western part of the boundary, which was not clearly defined by the British Indian government because of the remoteness of the Himalayan area.

China and India agreed in 1993 to maintain peace along the border, including not to use force or engage in activities that overstep the Line of Actual Control before they could agree on the border issue. Another agreement signed in 1996 further defined obligations between troops along the border.

Ties between China and India deteriorated after a series of fights along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border, in 2020 and 2021. The countries have been building roads, railway lines and bridges in disputed areas along the border.

On Twitter on Thursday, Singh posted photos of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Iran, including images showing the ministers shaking hands.

Footage released by the Indian defence ministry showed that Singh and Li did not shake hands during the photo opportunity before their meeting.

And Singh said only that he “held discussions” with Li but described the other three meetings as either a “wonderful interaction” or “fruitful discussions”.

A statement released on Friday by the Chinese defence ministry quoted Li as telling Singh that the Chinese and Indian militaries should continue to build mutual trust.

“At present, the situation on the Sino-Indian border is generally stable, and both sides have maintained communication through military and diplomatic channels,” Li was quoted as saying.

“Both sides should look to the long term, put the border issue in the proper place within bilateral relations and promote an early transition of the border situation towards normalised control.”

Li’s conciliatory tone contrasted with that of his predecessor. Wei, who met Singh in 2020, said India bore full responsibility for the border tensions.

Since the Galwan Valley clashes that year, India and China have held 18 rounds of negotiations between border officers over the western sector of the Line of Actual Control, where the dispute is concentrated on Aksai Chin, a Chinese-controlled area in the Himalayas claimed by India as part of its Ladakh region.

Officers at the 18th commander-level meeting held on Sunday agreed to speed up progress towards resolving the border dispute and exchange views “in an open and candid manner”.

The SCO was founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined the group in 2017. When it was created in 2001, the organisation focused on counterterrorism before expanding into a forum to include political and economic cooperation.

The defence ministers of Belarus and Iran, two SCO observer states, also took part in the meeting on Friday. (SCMP)