'Situation along LAC is 'stable' but not 'normal': Army chief Upendra Dwivedi on Chinese troops disengagement
The situation with China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is stable but sensitive and expressed hope that issues would be resolved in the near future, said the Indian Army chief Dwivedi.
Indian Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi, on Tuesday, said the situation with China is "stable". However, he added the situation is not "normal" and dubbed it "sensitive". "The situation is stable at LAC, but not normal and it's sensitive. We will remain there till things don't become normal," said the Army chief.
"As far as China is concerned, it has been intriguing our minds for quite some time. With China, you have to compete, cooperate, coexist, confront, and contest... So what's the situation today? It's stable, but it's not normal and it's sensitive," he said at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue.
"Sensitive"
Further, he hoped the situation to become normal as before April 2020. "We want the situation to be restored back to what it was before April 2020, whether in terms of the ground occupation situation or the buffer zones which have been created or patroling which have been kind of planned as of now. So until that situation is restored, as far as we are concerned, the situation will remain sensitive and we are fully operationally prepared to face any kind of contingency...Trust has become the biggest casualty..." he added.
The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a standoff in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks. India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.
Chinese villages near Indian borders
Meanwhile, when asked about China constructing villages along the LAC, the Indian Army chief downplayed the situation and said, "No problem, it's their country, they can do whatever they want." He termed the settlement an "artificial immigration".
"No problem, it's their country, they can do whatever they want. But what we see in the South China Sea. When we talk about the grey zone, initially we find fishermen and those kinds of people who are at the forefront. And in order to save them, then you find the military moving in...,' he said.
"As far as the Indian Army is concerned, we have already been having this kind of model village... But more importantly, now the state governments have been empowered to put in those resources and this is the time when the army, state governments and supervision by the central government are all coming together. So the model villages that are being built now will be even better...," the Indian Army chief stressed.
Some consensus reached in troops disengagement: China
The statement from the Army Chief came days after Beijing claimed the difference between the two nuclear nations was "reduced". Also, it claimed to build "some consensus" on disengaging troops from friction points to end the standoff in eastern Ladakh. According to the Chinese Defence Ministry, both sides agreed to maintain dialogue to reach a resolution acceptable to both sides at an "early date".
Earlier on September 12, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also echoed nearly the same statement. "Roughly 75 per cent of the disengagement problems" with China are sorted out," he said. On the issue of lingering border row in eastern Ladakh, Jaishankar underscored that the bigger issue has been the increasing militarization of the frontier.
We made some progress: Jaishankar
In an interactive session at a think-tank in this Swiss city, Jaishankar said the Galwan Valley clashes of June 2020 affected the "entirety" of India-China ties, asserting that one cannot have violence at the border and then say the rest of the relationship is insulated from it. The external affairs minister said negotiations between the two sides to find a solution to the problem are underway.
"Now those negotiations are going on. We made some progress. I would say roughly you can say about 75 per cent of the disengagement problems are sorted out," he said at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. "We still have some things to do," Jaishankar said, responding to a question.
The external affairs minister indicated that the relationship can improve if there is a resolution to the row. "We hope that if there is a solution to the disengagement and there is a return to peace and tranquility, then we can look at other possibilities," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)