There is an urgent need for a resolution of border tensions as Chinese violation of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has eroded the base of bilateral relations, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart, Gen Li Shangfu.
He said that all issues at the LAC need to be resolved by existing bilateral agreements, officials said. Rajnath Singh also emphasised that military cooperation between the two countries can progress only if peace and tranquillity are established at the border.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the two ministers had frank discussions about the developments in the India-China border areas and bilateral relations.
The Defense Minister categorically conveyed that the development of relations between India and China is premised on the prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders, the statement read.
According to Government sources, Rajnath Singh told Li that after disengagement at the LAC, there should be a movement towards de-escalation and that he is hopeful for a positive response.
Relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants had deteriorated since mid-2020 when Chinese and Indian troops clashed at Galwan. The situation has largely calmed after military and diplomatic talks, but the faceoff continues in pockets along the 3,800 km (2,360-mile) frontier.
In February 2021, both countries began to pull back troops and battle tanks from the bitterly contested lake area high in the Himalayas.
The two ministers met for about 55 minutes on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defense Ministers’ conference.
India has sought de-escalation, which would entail the return of all additional troops and equipment in forward areas to their pre-April 2020 positions. The visiting Chinese Defense minister is a trusted side of the Chinese President and a key person in the Chinese military setup. He has overseen several key projects and is the first from its Strategic Support Force (SSF) to be part of the country’s Central Military Commission headed by President Xi Jinping.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh reiterated that violation of existing agreements had eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation.
Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan and Defense secretary Giridhar Aramane were also in the meeting.
CDS Gen. Anil Chauhan was said to have been instrumental in reinforcing deployments along the LAC as the Eastern Army Commander.
Last week, India and China held the 18th round of high-level military talks, in which confidence-building measures and ways to avoid confrontation at the borders in the coming months were discussed, also setting the stage for the bilateral meeting between the Indian and Chinese Defense Ministers.
The meeting between Rajnath and Li is the first between the two countries’ Defence Ministers since September 2020, when they held talks on the sidelines of an SCO meeting in Moscow. It is also the first visit by a Chinese Defense Minister to India since the violence in May 2020.
It has also been stated in a section of Chinese media that a bilateral meeting between Chinese and Indian Defense Ministers would provide a good chance for the two sides to enhance consensus and narrow differences.
Besides the Chinese Defense Minister Li, Rajnath Singh also held a bilateral meeting with Iran’s Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Brigadier General Mohammed Reza Gharaei Ashtiyani. Both sides emphasised the age-old cultural, linguistic and civilisational ties between the two countries.
Both the leaders reviewed the bilateral Defense cooperation and exchanged views on regional security issues, including peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Singh also held separate bilateral meetings with the Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan, Colonel General Ruslan Zhaxylykov, and the Minister of Defense of Tajikistan, Colonel General Sherali Mirzo, in which the entire spectrum of Defense cooperation with the two countries was reviewed.
On the sidelines of the SCO Defense Ministers’ meeting on April 28, Singh will hold bilateral meetings with a few other Defense Ministers of other countries under the SCO.
The SCO member countries are India, Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Two observer countries — Belarus and Iran — will also participate in the SCO Defense Ministers’ meeting this year.
The militaries of SCO members have vast cooperation potential in non-traditional security fields such as counterterrorism, disaster relief, humanitarian aid and anti-epidemic work, and safeguarding regional peace and stability; a Chinese military expert has been quoted by The Global Times.
‘No handshake with Chinese Ministers’
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh skipped a handshake with the Chinese defence minister though he did have a handshake with his Tajik, Iran and Kazakh counterparts.
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