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India and China are holding more talks over an alleged advance by Chinese troops into disputed territory after senior army officers failed to reach a resolution, reports said yesterday.
Defence Minister A K Antony told reporters that “negotiations are going on at various levels to resolve the issue peacefully.”
“Our government will take every step to protect the national integrity and security,” he said, while on a visit to the southern city of Bangalore.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid too said the government was not satisfied with the border stand-off with China, and that discussions were on to resolve the issue.
The ministry said a day earlier that it had already asked China to withdraw troops who allegedly came across the border and set up camp in a remote area of the Himalayas on April 15.
“We have asked the Chinese side to maintain the status quo in this sector (of the western border),” spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. “By this I mean the status quo prior to this incident.”
Akbaruddin stressed that there were differing perceptions of the undefined frontier in the Buddhist-majority region of Ladakh which is a source of friction between the neighbours.
Beijing has denied that its soldiers had encroached on Indian territory or that they had contravened accords signed in 1993 and 1996 designed to maintain peace along the so-called Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Local military commanders from both sides have already met this week in a failed bid to resolve the issue, a reminder of the prickly relationship between the two countries.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh assured the government of the opposition’s support on the issue.
“The government should be fearless and take action. They must also inform parliament what step they are taking and we assure them, on the issue of external threats, we are with the government,” Singh said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah asked the federal government “to give a clear cut message to China on the intrusion issue,” adding that such situations hamper development in the frontier areas.
“We would like the central government to take up this issue with both China and Pakistan strongly and on the same terms so that no such incident takes place in future,” he said.