New Delhi, Sep 3: Amid the heightened border tensions with China in eastern Ladakh, India on Thursday said that the way ahead is negotiations through diplomatic and military channels.
“We strongly urge the Chinese side to sincerely engage the Indian side with the objective of expeditiously restoring the peace and tranquility in the border areas through complete disengagement and de-escalation in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during virtual weekly press briefing here on Thursday.
“The Indian side is firmly committed to resolving all outstanding issues through peaceful dialogue,” he added.
India and China engaged into fresh faceoff on August 29-30 night at southern bank of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh after Chinese troops tried to unilaterally change the status quo.
Since then, everyday a brigade commander-level meeting is taking place to resolve the ongoing issue but it has not yielded any outcomes.
“I can say that the ground commanders are still holding discussions to resolve the situation. We reiterate the consensus reached between the two Foreign Ministers and SRs that the situation in the border should be handled in a responsible manner and either side should not take any provocative action or escalate matters,” Mr Srivastava said.
“It is clear that the situation we witness over the past four months is a direct result of the actions taken by the Chinese side that sought to effect unilateral change of status quo,” he added.
These actions resulted in violation of the bilateral agreements and protocol which ensured peace and tranquility in the border areas for close to three decades, the spokesperson said.