India and China have reached an agreement to patrol their disputed border to end a four-year military standoff, India’s foreign minister said on Monday, paving the way for improved political and commercial ties between the two Asian giants.
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India and China have reached an agreement to patrol their disputed border to end a four-year military standoff, India’s foreign minister said on Monday, paving the way for improved political and commercial ties between the two Asian giants.
Indian officials said the news came on the eve of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia to attend the BRICS regional grouping summit from October 22 to 24, during which he is likely to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Relations between the world’s two most populous countries, both nuclear powers, have been tense in 2020 as their armies clashed in the undemarcated border area in the western Himalayas, leaving 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers dead. Soldiers die.
Since then, both sides have stopped patrolling at several points along the border in the Ladakh region to avoid new confrontations, while moving tens of thousands of new troops and military equipment closer to the frozen highlands.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at a New Delhi TV media conference: “We have reached an agreement on the patrol issue, we have returned to the situation in 2020, and we can say… the disengagement process with China has been completed.”
“There was no understanding until today,” he said, adding: “We always say if you disturb peace and tranquility, how can the rest of the relationship continue to develop?”
A senior Indian military officer familiar with the details told Reuters that in order to avoid conflicts, the two armies will patrol the disputed points on the border according to an agreed schedule.
The official added that both sides will monitor the Ladakh region to ensure there are no violations.
There was no immediate response from Beijing to India’s remarks.
Officials in New Delhi said the agreement clears the way for a possible bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, which would be their first meeting since 2020.
The senior military officer said both sides would slightly withdraw troops from current positions to avoid a confrontation but would be allowed to patrol the areas according to a schedule being developed.
Monthly review meetings and regular monitoring of the disputed areas by both parties will ensure that there are no irregularities, he added.
Dipendra Singh Hooda, a retired senior Indian military officer who once served as commander of parts of the border with China, said that while both sides needed new confidence-building measures, “at least the deadlock has been broken.”
Negotiations to end the impasse have made slow progress over the past four years, damaging commercial ties between the two giant economies, with New Delhi stepping up scrutiny of investments by Chinese companies and halting major projects.
Following the conflict, India introduced tighter scrutiny of all Chinese investments, effectively blocking billions of dollars in investments from automakers such as BYD and Great Wall Motors and adding more friction to Indian companies’ interactions with Chinese stakeholders. Lots of red tape.
However, since the 2020 border conflict, India’s imports from China have surged 56%, nearly doubling New Delhi’s trade deficit with Beijing to $85 billion. China remains India’s largest source of goods and last year was India’s largest supplier of industrial products.
Asked about the impact of Monday’s trade and investment deal with China, Jaishankar said: “This has just happened. There will be meetings to discuss next steps. I won’t go too fast.”
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