In the wake of the recent standoff between India and China in ladakh, the two countries will discuss the proposed Border Defence Co-operation Management Agreement (BDCA) during External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s visit to Beijing on May 9.
Till now, India had not responded to the proposed pact mooted by China two months ago.
The pact proposes joint patrolling by the two armies, informing each other before embarking on a patrol and increasing communication points at different points along the 4,500 km line of Actual Control (lAC) to avoid any flare-up.
Sources said the 20-day face-off brought to the fore a need to evolve a mechanism on the ground, headed by the Foreign Ministries of the two countries. They also said such incidents cannot be ruled out as the border dispute is unsettled and “this is not the first or last incident.”
A note on the BDCA is expected to be circulated soon to all stakeholders, including the Defence Ministry, and a final call on it will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), they said.
Giving the latest inputs about the situation on the ground in Depsang Valley, ladakh where the face-off took place, they said the Chinese troops have pulled back to their original position across the lAC.
A day after flag meetings were held in Chushul, ladakh to work out the modalities and arrangements to restore the status quo in the sector, sources said they have got a confirmation on the arrangements getting completed on Tuesday.
Denying that any deal was struck to reach the agreement to restore status quo as it existed prior to April 15 when the Chinese troops intruded 19 km into ladakh, sources said India has only “taken-off” a “tin-shed” constructed in Chumar, on April 18.
This shelter was located seven to eight kms ahead of the Indian positions and the Chinese had objected to it during the flag meetings when the impasse began on April 15. The tin shelter made to protect a surveillance camera was dismantled following the flag meeting.
Sources said “at no point did India overestimate the significance or underestimate the seriousness” of the Chinese incursion. They also said India will stress upon China the need to have clarification on the differing perceptions of the lAC.
Noting that in the agreements arrived at in 1993 and 1996 between India and China on the issue of lAC, there were clarifications on the differing perceptions on lAC and there were exchanges on it, the sources said.
Somehow in later years, this discussion went off the table from the Chinese side, probably because there was a sense that it may be taken as boundary by default, sources said.
“There is a need to revive this particular subject to prevent incidents of this nature. Clarifications we really seek are imperative and required. (Otherwise) This (Depsang incursion) kind of incidents could recur. This is something we would certainly flag up,” sources said.
In Beijing, Indian and Chinese officials on Tuesday held talks to finalise the details of Khurshid’s visit and Chinese Premier li Keqiang’s trip to New Delhi.
The Indian Minister’s visit was under a cloud until the two sides reached an agreement to end the standoff, which was simultaneously acknowledged on Monday.
The standoff is expected to figure in Khurshid’s talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as well as Premier li. Beside the border incident, the focus of Khurshid’s talks here will be to finalise the programme of li’s visit to India during which he would be visiting both New Delhi and Mumbai.
The new Chinese Premier chose India as his first stop during his maiden foreign to strike a friendly chord with the Indian public and leaders, which hopefully would not be overshadowed by a barrage of negative publicity generated by the Chinese troops’ intrusion, strategic thinkers in China felt.
The incident will not cast a shadow on the bilateral ties as India and China are well aware of the importance of friendly relations. The peaceful settlement of this crisis is within expectations, as China and India have developed a relatively mature mechanism to respond to such emergencies, Sun Shihai, an expert on Indian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.