NEW DELHI: India said on Tuesday it is committed to engaging China to find a fair and mutually acceptable framework for settling the boundary issue, but made it clear that the Line of Actual Control (LAC) must be strictly respected and the status quo in the border areas must not be unilaterally altered.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar made a statement in Lok Sabha that outlined the government’s position on relations with China in the wake of an understanding in October to resolve the military standoff in the Ladakh sector of the LAC. Peace and tranquillity on the border is a prerequisite for developing bilateral ties and the two sides will discuss de-escalation and effective management of activities on the LAC, he said.

The statement, which dwelt at length on the circumstances that triggered the face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in the Ladakh sector in April-May 2020 and the history of the border conflict, was the first comprehensive outlining of the Indian government’s position since the two sides reached the agreement on October 21 to address the two remaining “friction points” at Demchok and Depsang.

“While there is a Line of Actual Control (LAC), it does not have a common understanding in some areas. We remain committed to engaging with China through bilateral discussions to arrive at a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for a boundary settlement,” Jaishankar said.

He listed three key principles to be observed in all circumstances – both sides should strictly respect and observe the LAC, neither side should attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo, and agreements and understandings reached in the past must be fully abided by in their entirety.

“I would like to inform the House that disengagement has now been achieved in full in eastern Ladakh through a step-by-step process, culminating in Depsang and Demchok. With the task of disengagement completed, it is now our expectation that discussions would commence in regard to the remaining issues that we had placed on the agenda,” he said.

Referring to India’s expectation regarding the direction of ties with China in future, Jaishankar said the relationship “progressed in many domains, but was obviously negatively affected by recent events”. He said: “We are clear that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas is a prerequisite for the development of our ties.”

The conclusion of disengagement, he said, allows the two sides to consider other aspects of bilateral engagement “in a calibrated manner, keeping our national security interests first and foremost”. He added: “In my recent meeting with [Chinese foreign minister] Wang Yi, we reached an understanding that the Special Representatives and the foreign secretary-level mechanisms will be convening soon.”

Two days after the agreement on patrolling arrangements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the margins of the Brics Summit in the Russian city of Kazan on October 23 and decided to reactivate several mechanisms to resolve the boundary issue and normalise bilateral relations. This was followed by a meeting between Jaishankar and Wang on the margins of the G20 Summit in Brazil on November 18, and a meeting between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on the sidelines of an Asean meet in Laos on November 20.

Jaishankar reiterated India’s stated position that bilateral ties had been “abnormal” since 2020, when peace in the border areas was disturbed by Chinese actions. He also reiterated that the massing of a large number of troops by China along the LAC in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020 resulted in face-offs at a number of points and disrupted India’s patrolling activities.

“Recent developments that reflect our continuous diplomatic engagement since then have set our ties in the direction of some improvement,” he said.

The face-offs and a brutal clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops, took bilateral ties to their lowest point since the border war of 1962. India imposed restrictions on Chinese investments and visas for Chinese nationals and banned scores of Chinese apps. Dozens of rounds of diplomatic and military talks over the past four years led to the disengagement of troops at Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake, Gogra and Hot Springs.

Jaishankar said the violent clash in Galwan Valley left India addressing a situation “that had not only seen fatalities for the first time in 45 years but also a turn of events serious enough for heavy weaponry to be deployed in close proximity to the LAC”.

A determined counter-deployment of adequate capability was the Indian government’s immediate response though there was the “imperative of a diplomatic effort to defuse these heightened tensions”.

The immediate priority of India’s response was ensuring disengagement at friction points so that there would be no untoward incidents or clashes, and this has been “fully achieved”, he said. The next priority will de-escalation to address the massing of troops along the LAC, and the management of border areas will “require further attention in the light of our recent experiences”, he added.

The objective of the October 21 understanding was to ensure patrolling by Indian troops “as in the past to the relevant patrolling points” and resumption of grazing by civilians. “It was initially tested by sending out patrols for verification of disengagement on the ground and is being followed up by regular activities as per the agreed understanding,” Jaishankar said.

In an apparent reference to “buffer zones” created during disengagement at friction points such as Pangong Lake, Jaishankar said “steps of a temporary and limited nature were worked out” in a few places to “obviate the possibility of further friction”. He said this “applies to both sides and can be revisited as the situation demands”.

Going into the history of the border dispute, Jaishankar said China was in illegal occupation of 38,000 sq km of Indian territory in Aksai Chin as a result of the 1962 war, while Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory to China in 1963. It was in 1988 that there was a clear understanding with China that the boundary issue would be settled through peaceful consultations.

In 1993, an agreement was reached on maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC, and both sides agreed on military confidence-building measures (CBMs) in 1996. In 2003, the two sides finalised a declaration that included the appointment of Special Representatives on the border issue. In 2005, a protocol was finalised for implementing CBMs along the LAC, and in 2012, a Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) was established.