New Delhi:

India-China ties – “abnormal” since April 2020, when the two militaries clashed in parts of eastern Ladakh, leading to fatalities on both sides for the first time in 45 years – have improved recently, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Lok Sabha Tuesday, explaining that “continuous diplomatic engagement since then (has) set our ties in the direction of some improvement”.

India remains committed, Mr Jaishankar said, to engaging with China “through bilateral talks to arrive at a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement for the border issue”.

It is, however evident, he told Parliament, that management of border areas will require further attention in light of our recent experiences. He flagged three key principles to be observed in all circumstances.

The first is that both sides should strictly respect and observe the LAC. The second is that neither should attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo, and the third is that agreements and understandings reached in the past must be fully abided by in their entirety.

“Members will recall the amassing of a large number of troops by China along the LAC (Line of Actual Control) in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020 resulted in face-offs with our forces at a number of points. The situation also led to disruption of patrolling activities,” the EAM began his remarks.

“It is to the credit of our armed forces that despite logistical challenges, and the then prevailing Covid situation, they were able to counter-deploy rapidly and effectively,” he said.

“While a determined counter-deployment of adequate capability was the immediate response, there was also the imperative of a diplomatic effort to defuse tensions and restore peace and tranquility.”

That diplomatic effort, which included nearly two dozen rounds of talks between military commanders, the most recent on August 29, led to the October agreement, under which Indian and Chinese troops returned to positions, and resumed patrolling routes, prior to the April 2020 face-off.

READ | “Back To 2020 Patrolling”: S Jaishankar To NDTV On India-China Pact

Last week the government said that deal had been implemented as agreed.

READ | Army “Successfully” Completes Patrolling To Key Point In Depsang

The agreement – announced hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for a BRICS Summit at which China’s Xi Jinping would also be present – was seen as a roadmap to restoration of peace and tranquility along the LAC, a status quo the Indian government has often spoken about as the first, and a necessary, step towards any normalisation of relations between the two countries.

READ | PM Modi, Xi Welcome “Complete Disengagement” Along LAC

On that topic, Mr Jaishankar said the immediate priority – of disengagement of troops from friction points in eastern Ladakh, specifically in the Depsang and Demchok areas, had been “fully achieved”.

The next priority is to consider de-escalation, which will address amassing of troops along the Line of Actual Control, which serves as the de facto international border, the External Affairs Minister said.

Mr Jaishankar’s remarks came two weeks after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, for a first ministerial-level meet since the disengagement in eastern Ladakh. 

READ | India, China Defence Ministers’ 1st High-Level Talks Post Disengagement

Mr Singh and Mr Dong, a former naval Commander appointed in December last year, met on the sidelines of a two-day, 10-nation ASEAN summit in Laos that began November 20.

Disenagement and patrolling in Depsang and Demchok follows similar positive actions on the north and south banks of the Pangong Lake in 2021, and in the contentious Gogra-Hot Springs area in September a year later. In each case the two sides withdrew to pre-April 2020 positions.

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