EAM Jaishankar labels India-China LAC patrolling agreement as 'positive development', advises less speculation on road ahead

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Monday termed the India-China agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh as a "positive development" and a product of very "patient and persevering diplomacy".

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced Monday afternoon that both countries, after discussions that have taken place over past several weeks, arrived at an agreement on patrolling arrangements along the LAC leading to disengagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in the region 2020 following the violent Galwan Valley face-off in June 2020.

Speaking at the NDTV World Summit immediately after Misri made the announcement, EAM Jaishankar said that the agreement creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which should be there in the border areas and existed before 2020 - something which had been India's major concern over the past few years for the bilateral relationship to turn normal.

"At various points of time, people almost gave up. We have always maintained that on the one hand, we had to obviously do the counter deployments... But, side by side, we have been negotiating since September 2020 when I met my Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow. It has been a very patient process, maybe more complicated than what it could and should have been. The fact is that if we are able to, as we now have, reach an understanding regarding patrolling and observing the sanctity of the LAC, then, I think, it creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which there should be in border areas and existed there before 2020," remarked Jaishankar.

Ever since the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC along the India-China border, New Delhi had made it clear that upholding peace and tranquillity on the ground has to be in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments.

The EAM, however, advised to exercise caution and not go too fast on speculating immediate outcomes, insisting that the agreement has just happened and there will be discussions and meetings to plan the next steps.

"We are neighbours and have an unresolved boundary issue. They have been rising and we too have been rising. So, if two large neighbouring countries next to each other in the same time frame, it is not easy and there are very few historical parallels for that. Managing this double rise and that too in proximity will require a lot of skills, deftness and diplomacy. The truth is that our capabilities will change, our influence will change and our ambitions will change. Both of us would naturally want to be bigger, more visible and more effective in the world. How to get an equilibrium in our relationship will be one big issue, for us and them" the EAM opined.