India on Thursday said diplomatic channels remain open with China and that would continue to be used for resolution of the ongoing stand-off between the troops of the two countries in the Sikkim region.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will brief the political parties on the stand-off with China at a meeting at Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence on Friday.
“We have diplomatic channels available. We have Embassies in both countries. Those channels will continue to be used,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in response to media queries on the ongoing efforts to resolve the confrontation on the border. He also referred to Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s remarks at an event in Singapore on the issue saying there were well established and mutually agreed mechanisms to address differences on border issue as well as tri-junctions.
He added this is not the first time a dispute has arisen and “both sides have accumulated a lot of experience from the past” in resolving these.
It is expected that the issue may also be discussed on the sidelines of BRICS National Security Advisors’ meeting in Beijing on July 27-28 where Ajit Doval will be present. Doval has been part of the Special Representatives talks on the boundary issue between India and China and it is expected his presence may well boost talks to end impasse.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had on Wednesday said that there were border differences with China in the past too which have been resolved.
“At the same time, it is a long border, of which no part has been agreed upon on the ground. Therefore, it’s likely that from time to time there are differences. But differences should not become disputes as they can be resolved just as in the past,” Jaishankar said during a lecture in Singapore.
The stand-off between India and China in the Sikkim sector is close to a month now. China has asked India to pull back its troops as a precondition to settle current situation “before it gets worse and has more serious consequences”. However, Jaishankar had said that this is not the first time a dispute has happened on the border. “And when such situations arise, how we handle it...is a test of our maturity,” the FS had said.
The leaders of the two countries met briefly on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Hamburg recently. The Chinese diplomats have denied that there was any “bilateral meeting” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “There was a conversation between them. There was a range of issues that was the subject matter of the conversation,” MEA spokesperson asserted.