The Chinese Defence Ministry on Thursday nailed the failure to demarcate the Sino-Indian border as the root cause of sporadic military tensions, but praised the robustness of the existing mechanisms which prevent a flare-up at the frontiers.
In what appeared to be an advocacy for a joint understanding on the alignment of the border, military spokesman Geng Yansheng said at a media briefing: “I would like to emphasise again that because the China-India border is not demarcated, it is sometimes inevitable that incidents happen.”
Unlike Pakistan, where Indian and Pakistani personnel, following the 1971 conflict, arrived at a common understanding on the alignment of what became known as the Line of Control (LoC), the Chinese and the Indian sides continue to hold divergent perceptions on their interim boundary, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The Chinese official praised President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to India, pointing to the joint statement that was signed “on building closer partnership for development,” premised on peace along the borders.
Analysts say that “important consensus” reached by the visiting President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on keeping the borders calm, pending a final settlement, had acquired a sense of urgency following the latest standoff between the Indian and Chinese forces in Ladakh.
The spokesman said: “Through the joint efforts of both sides, the incident that happened recently is under effective control. I hope that with the continuous efforts of both sides, the problem can be solved as soon as possible.”
The official denied that last year’s joint Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) had failed to achieve concrete results. On the contrary, it is of “great significance” because it provides detailed guidelines on handling a crisis.
“This agreement is of great significance for consolidating and improving the relations and consolidating the mutual trust between the two countries as well as effectively maintaining peace and stability along the border,” the spokesman observed.
“In this agreement, a lot of things are clearly regulated, such as the content of border defence cooperation, the working mechanisms, the channels for communication, the exchanges between the two border defence troops, and the methods to effectively manage and control the border disputes,” he said.
Acting in the spirit of the BDCA and other agreements, border incidents have been brought under effective control, and the frontiers have remained peaceful. “This again demonstrates the necessity and effectiveness of the BDCA and other agreements,” the spokesman said.
