The relationship with China is “complex”, there cannot be a normal bilateral relationship if there is no peace and tranquillity in border areas, said Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla at the Diplomatic Academy of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
“The relationship with China is complex. It was in the 1980s where both countries decided that they would set aside our differences on the boundary,” he said.
He said developments last year, in terms of the “very large number” of troops amassed on the border area, multiple transgressions along the Line of Actual Control, did create a situation that impacted the “larger relationship”.
“As we mentioned to our friends in China, we cannot have (a) normal bilateral relationship if there is no peace and tranquillity in our border areas. The relationship is definitely dependent on the relations that are normal even on the border. We cannot have our troops having loss of life, situations of transgressions and still go about a normal relationship,” Shringla said.
He further said that the process of disengagement in Pangong lake area would conclude in the next two-three days and that an understanding has been reached with China after months of negotiations.
“In the last few days, we (Beijing and New Delhi) have started what is called a disengagement plan. We have come to some understanding with China after nine months of negotiations on a plan of disengagement that would involve frontline troops that were in close proximity with each other, I would say going to their permanent bases, and preventing any chance of mishap or miscalculation of troops of being in close proximity to each other,” he said.
“We do believe that in the next two or three days this process would have come to a conclusion and I think that’s a step in the right direction. How that will go from there is difficult to say,” he added.
Earlier this month, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had informed parliament the agreement for disengagement in the Pangong lake area envisaged that both sides will cease their forward deployments in “a phased, coordinated and verified manner”.