New Delhi: China and India are committed to ensuring stability in their border areas with both countries maintaining communication through diplomatic and military-to-military channels, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said in the backdrop of the Tawang clash in Arunachal Pradesh.
Wang also expressed his country’s desire to work with India for the “steady and sound growth” of ties between the two neighbours.
“China and India have maintained communication through the diplomatic and military-to-military channels, and both countries are committed to upholding stability in the border areas. We stand ready to work with India in the direction toward steady and sound growth of China-India relations,” the Chinese foreign minister said Sunday in a review of Beijing’s diplomacy.
On 9 December, troops of the two countries clashed in Tawang sector near Yangtse along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in which men from both sides suffered minor injuries.
Subsequently, India and China had met at the Chushul-Moldo border crossing point on the Chinese side for the 17th round of Corps Commander-level meeting on 20 December and had agreed to keep the western sector secure and stable.
“The two sides agreed to stay in close contact and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said.
Later, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had informed Parliament that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had tried to unilaterally change Tawang status quo but was stopped by Indian soldiers. There was no loss of life to the jawans, he had said.
At his annual foreign policy address, Wang also spoke about how China and Pakistan continue to uphold their “invaluable” partnership.
“China and Pakistan have continued to firmly support each other, uphold the invaluable all-weather strategic partnership, and consolidate the iron-clad friendship,” he said.
Talking about Japan, Wang said that the leaders of the two countries had their first face-to -face meeting in three years at the joint commemoration at the 50th anniversary of the normalisation of bilateral relations. The two nations arrived at an important consensus on promoting the stability and growth of their relationship, he added.
“The two countries need to take history as a mirror, treat each other with sincerity and engage each other with trust. It is important to avoid backpedaling and flip flopping, be far-sighted and forward looking, and steer the course of the bilateral relations from a strategic perspective,” the Chinese foreign minister said.
Giving Beijing’s stand on the “Ukraine crisis”, Wang said China has continuously kept the essential ideals of neutrality and impartiality with regard to the issue, without taking sides or adding fuel to the fire, let alone trying to profit personally from the situation.
“We have kept to the right direction of promoting peace talks, searched for a solution that addresses both symptoms and root causes of the issue, and stood firm as an anchor of peace instead of fanning the flame of the conflict,” he said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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