Hours after Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi arrived in Ladakh on Friday, China said negotiations are on with India to “lower the temperatures”, while adding that no party should engage in any action that could escalate the situation.
“India and China are in communication and negotiations on lowering the temperatures through military & diplomatic channels. No party should engage in any action that may escalate the situation at this point,” Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on PM Modi’s Ladakh visit.
In response to a question about India’s additional scrutiny of imports from China due to the recent border dispute, Zhao said, “Artificial blocks to bilateral cooperation violated the rules of the WTO and would harm India’s interests.”
Modi on Friday morning had landed in Leh on a closely-guarded visit to Ladakh that has been at the center of the standoff with China’s People’s Liberation Army troops since early May.
Modi was accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief Gen MM Naravane.
Indian and Chinese soldiers continue to be eyeball to eyeball at the Line of Actual Control at Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, Depsang Plains and Pangong Tso in Ladakh and at Naku La in North Sikkim.
And now China has reportedly started creating trouble for Indian patrols in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) area between patrolling points 10 and 13 and the Demchok region in eastern Ladakh.
The armies of India and China are locked in a tense standoff in eastern Ladakh, where China has reportedly occupied 60 sq. kilometres of territory claimed by India.
A Chinese diplomat reacting to the standoff in Ladakh has said that the move is linked to the Indian government’s unilateral decision to scrap Article 370 in August last year.
The move changed the laws that prohibited Indians from buying land in Kashmir, and made the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir defunct, triggering fears of demographic change in the Muslim majority region of Kashmir.
When India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5 last year, the Chinese foreign ministry had issued two statements criticising the development, including one that focused on the splitting of the state into union territories.
This statement, while urging India to be “cautious” on the border issue and to avoid “actions that further complicate the border issue”, said: “China has always opposed India’s inclusion of Chinese territory in India’s administrative jurisdiction in the western part of the Sino-Indian border.” This was a reference to the area in Ladakh that New Delhi claims but is controlled by Beijing.
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