Akbar, the external affairs minister this morning said that India is addressing the issue of incursion by China 'in an appropriate manner' and that 'we do not want any departure from proportionality'. Could you please define proportionality? Is incursion of a platoon strength contingent of the Chinese army or indeed any foreign army inside 10 km of the territory proportionately speaking a small matter? What is proportionality in this case?
Your question addresses the military aspects but let me try and address what we have done so far and how we pursue this incident because I think that would be more appropriate for me as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs to answer, and I think you will have a reasonably good idea of how we are approaching this entire issue. The ongoing incident that you have mentioned refers to an incident in the Depsang area of the western sector of the India-China boundary. We see this as a face-to-face situation between border personnel of the two sides due to differences on the alignment of the Line of Actual Control. We have, therefore, asked the Chinese side to maintain status quo in this sector, and by status quo I mean status quo prior to this incident.
The term face-to-face situation is not something that we have conjured up. It is something that is referred to in the 2005 Protocol for the Implementation of CBMs in the military field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas. Let me just refer to the specific article in this. It is Article 4 of that protocol and it reads as follows: "If the border personnel of the two sides come to a face-to-face situation due to differences on the Line of Actual Control, they shall exercise self-restraint and take all necessary steps to avoid an escalation of the situation". Then there is a whole listing of procedures that need to be followed. Therefore, when we say face-to-face situation this is what we are referring to.
Now, the ongoing incident in the Depsang area of the Western Sector of the India-China Boundary is a localised event. This is a sector in which there are differing perceptions of the Line of Actual Control. That is why we have, since 1996, been maintaining that there is a need for both sides to work together in clarifying and confirming the Line of Actual Control.
What steps have been taken since this incident occurred? Those of you who have been following this are aware that this came to note on April 15. On April 16 morning, Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary (East Asia), who chairs the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on India-China border affairs, spoke to his counterpart who is the director-general border affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was on April 16 morning. Subsequently, perhaps you are all aware, on April 18 morning there was a flag meeting. Following that, on April 18 evening the foreign secretary expressed the concerns of the government of India to the Ambassador of China in Delhi.
This morning there is a flag meeting which is still underway by last account. I do not have a read-out. Let us wait for that. I hope you are able to understand what the situation in technical terms is and what we have done. Let me also try and clarify that overall, the India-China border areas continue to remain peaceful. We believe that this ongoing incident can be handled on the basis of agreements between the two countries and through mechanisms established under those agreements to resolve such situations peacefully. I hope I have clarified to a large extent without getting into the technical details because I do not think I am competent to respond to the technical details of situations on the border.
Has India sent any additional troops to the area to meet any eventuality?
It has been our experience that similar incidents in the past have been resolved peacefully and we hope to resolve this incident, too, peacefully. So, please, on issues relating to other than peaceful means, you may like to address other appropriate organs which deal with this.
Since this is the first opportunity for an on-the-record statement, can we have a factual narration of what has happened as there have been differing reports on how deep inside are the Chinese troops, what are the numbers of the Chinese troops, and what sort of structures they have raised there in that place?
Again as I said, my job is to interact and discuss this at a diplomatic level. There are others in the government of India, who you are well aware of, who may be able to provide you that information.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said yesterday they had not trespassed into Indian territory. This morning we spoke to the Chinese Embassy and they said they stand by that statement. How would you respond to that? Also, is there any effort to look at this politically and reach out to them at a political level and not just at the diplomatic level?
As I said, I think we need to go through very carefully the mechanisms and agreements that we have on this issue bilaterally. Let me try and put to you one of the agreements which will indicate about differing perceptions. This is Article 10 of the 1996 Agreement on Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas. Article 10 states as follows: "The two sides agree to speed up the process of clarification and confirmation of the Line of Actual Control". As an initial step in this process, they are clarifying the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in those segments where they have different perceptions. This is a written document which should be available publicly. All we are saying is that in our perception or in our view or in our approach, we see this as a situation of differing perceptions; this is based on agreements and mechanisms that we have established; we have activated those mechanisms based on our understanding of what the situation is and what the agreements between the two countries provide for.
Excerpts from a media briefing on the Sino-Indian standoff by the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson, S Akbaruddin, in New Delhi on April 23
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