External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid may call off his visit to Beijing on May 9 if Chinese troops do not withdraw from the face-off site in ladakh soon and return to their original positions across the line of Actual Control (lAC).
China, so far, has refused to pull back after intruding 19 kms into India and insists that its troops are in their own territory.
This development comes on a day when China formally announced Khurshid's two-day visit to Beijing and said both nations were committed to resolving the dispute over the presence of Chinese troops in Depsang Valley, ladakh through talks, without letting it ‘affect’ bilateral ties.
Hinting that he may not travel to Beijing, Khurshid said in Tehran on Friday that India was not satisfied with the ongoing talks with China over the standoff.
He also said he could not ‘predict with certainty’ whether he would visit China.
Khurshid said he hoped for a positive response from Beijing and would be ‘disappointed’ if the latter refused to budge.
He said the progress in dialogue to end the standoff is not satisfactory and India would have liked a ‘much better response’ from China. Khurshid said the review of his visit has not been done ‘as of now’ but ‘what will happen tomorrow, one can't predict today.’
He emphasised that India wanted reversal of the ‘adverse incident’ in ladakh and return to status quo in Depsang Valley where the Chinese troops intruded.
"We haven't reviewed at this stage. We have not found it necessary. We have not reached at that stage to review," Khurshid said when asked whether his scheduled visit to Beijing is under review.
Questioned whether there was certainty about his going ahead with the visit, he responded, "The word certainty is not a good word to use in human affairs. What will happen tomorrow one can't predict today."
He remained evasive on giving clarity on the visit despite repeated queries but sources said the visit would "not be worthwhile" if there is no progress in talks taking place at various levels.
Khurshid said: "We are concentrating on dialogue and hopefully the dialogue will be successful. We are keeping the channels of communication open. We are carefully articulating whatever our expectations are."
Asked whether India is satisfied with the progress of dialogue with China over the incursion, he said: "I can't say we have satisfaction at this stage...I can't say we have reached the level of satisfaction."
He went on to add: "We would have liked a much better response from China. We would be disappointed if the response that we have got thus far is not improved."
Contending that "we are in the right direction", and "best efforts" are being made to bring about desired results in the dialogue taking place, Khurshid said he could not assert that it will happen tomorrow.
When asked about preparations for the Chinese Prime Minister's visit to New Delhi, Khurshid said: "It is sequential, as it will take place after my visit to Beijing."
The likely cancellation of Khurshid's visit could jeopardize the high-profile visit of Premier li Keqiang to New Delhi on May 20.
li, who took over as Premier last month wants India to be the first stop in his maiden foreign tour, to signal China's desire to deepen friendly relations with India.
The two sides have held three flag meetings since the standoff but these parleys could not achieve any breakthrough.
Similarly, talks at the diplomatic level also failed to yield desired results.
In Beijing, Chinese spokesperson Hua Chunying said Khurshid's visit "represents one of the major high level interactions between China and India this year."
She also said:"While actively developing friendly cooperation, China and India are also committed to resolving disputes including the boundary ones through peaceful negotiations and try to ensure that such disputes will not affect development of bilateral relations."
Meanwhile, reports indicated that Chinese soldiers had advanced into three adjoining areas of Daulat Beg Oldi when they intruded there on April 15.
Images taken by the UAVs deployed in Eastern ladakh have suggested that Chinese platoons had come forward inside the Indian territory in three adjoining areas around the same time the intrusion in Eastern ladakh took place, sources said here.
However, the Chinese troops went back later from those areas due to the increasing pressure on the issue, they said.