No major breakthrough, but India and China agree to maintain peace along border

NEW DELHI: There was no major breakthrough in the top-level defence delegation meeting between India and China on Monday, as was expected. But the two sides decided to further step up military exchanges to ensure peace and tranquillity is maintained all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control, which has witnessed several troop face-offs in recent times.
Chaired by defence minister Manohar Parrikar and General Fan Changlong, who as vice-chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission is the highest-ranking Chinese general, the meeting also condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and agreed to strengthen co-operation to fight together against the menace of terrorism.Parrikar, on his part, offered to share India’s expertise in fighting terrorism through joint exercises.
On bilateral issues, the two sides held their armed forces “should shoulder important responsibilities” and “further enhance communications and exchanges between them”, holding that peace and tranquillity in the border areas “is the cornerstone for smooth development of bilateral relations in diverse areas”.
They agreed to implement the consensus reached between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping to ensure peace and tranquillity is maintained along the LAC. India also welcomed the proposal for the visit of the commander of Lanzhou Military Region to India early next year.
This is in tune with the proposal to institutionalise the mechanism for regular face-to-face interactions between commanders-in-chief of the Indian Eastern Army Command and Chinese Chengdu Military Region as well as Northern Army Command and Lanzhou Military Region, which is yet to take concrete shape, as reported by TOI earlier.
The two sides on Monday also welcomed the fact that the fifth border personnel meeting (BPM) point at Daulat Beg Oldi had become operational in August, which adds to the existing ones at Chushul (Ladakh), Nathu La (Sikkim), Bum La and Kibithu (Arunachal) between the two armies.
But as reported by TOI earlier, The border defence cooperation agreement (BDCA), inked between the two countries in October 2013, is yet to become fully operational on the ground to ensure troop face-offs are effectively defused and managed at the local level itself. The troop confrontations continue to take place all along the LAC, with eastern Ladakh emerging a major flashpoint in recent times. With both sides resorting to aggressive patrolling to lay claims to disputed areas, rival troops also continue to tail each other’s patrols, which was specifically prohibited by the BDCA. The proposed hotline between the top military hierarchy, like the DGMO-level one between India and Pakistan, is also yet to become a concrete reality. The highest-level Chinese military delegation to visit India in a decade will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.