China confirms LAC patrolling agreement as PM Modi, Xi Jinping reach Russia for BRICS Summit

Beijing : China on Tuesday confirmed the agreement that has been reached between New Delhi and Beijing on the patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas.

"Over the past few weeks, China and India have been in close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues related to the China-India border. Now, the two sides have reached a resolution on the relevant matters which China speaks highly of. Going forward, China will work with India to implement these resolutions," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters during a daily media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.

On Monday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had reflected on the longstanding issue, with a nearly identical statement.

"I can share with you that over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums. And as a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020. And we will be taking the next steps on this," Misri had told reporters in New Delhi.

The Indian Foreign Secretary had neither confirmed nor denied any possibility of both leaders holding bilateral discussions in Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting.

"This is a multilateral event, though of course, there is always a provision for bilateral meetings on the sidelines. We are currently looking into the overall programme of the Prime Minister. There are a number of requests for bilateral meetings and we will update you on the bilaterals as they evolve as soon as feasible," stated Misri, who was India's Ambassador to China during the violent Galwan Valley face-off between the soldiers of the two countries at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June 2020.

As the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC in other areas of the Western Sector of the India-China border areas, the two sides have been engaged in discussions through established diplomatic and military channels to address the situation.

On Monday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar said that the latest agreement creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which should be there in the border areas and existed before 2020 - something which had been India's major concern over the past few years for the bilateral relationship to turn normal.

"At various points of time, people almost gave up. We have always maintained that on the one hand, we had to obviously do the counter deployments... But, side by side, we have been negotiating since September 2020 when I met my Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow. It has been a very patient process, maybe more complicated than what it could and should have been. The fact is that if we are able to, as we now have, reach an understanding regarding patrolling and observing the sanctity of the LAC, then, I think, it creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which there should be in border areas and existed there before 2020," remarked Jaishankar while speaking at the NDTV World Summit.

Beijing's confirmation on the border patrolling agreement came just after Chinese President Xi Jinping left for Kazan to attend the 16th BRICS Leaders' Meeting which is also being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Accompanying Xi Jinping on the visit are Cai Qi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also the member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.