PM Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi (Press Trust of India photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took up with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping a series of incursions at the border and bluntly stressed on the need to resolve the dispute quickly and clarify the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
"Respect for each other's sensitivities and concerns and, peace and stability in our relations and along our borders are essential," PM Modi said, speaking to reporters after talks that lasted nearly three hours at Delhi's Hyderabad House.
"I expressed concern on border incursions and the need to resolve it. Peace and stability at the border is necessary. We need to resolve the boundary issue quickly. Our border Confidence Building Measures have helped but I have also suggested that for peace and stability, we need to clarify LAC," he asserted.
The two leaders met amid an unprecedented face-off at the border after 1,000 Chinese soldiers crossed into Indian territory in Ladakh's Chumar in the worst such transgression in years. In the evening, there were signs of a cooling off as troops on either side pulled back, using loudspeakers to communicate.
The Chinese President said he too was ready to end the row, and repeated Beijing's stand that the boundary dispute has been left over from history.
"The border has yet to be demarcated. Sometimes there maybe incidents but both sides are capable of handling situation with border mechanisms so that these don't have a large impact," President Xi said.
India has posted 1,500 soldiers at Chumur after armed Chinese troops crossed about five km into Indian territory yesterday.
Chinese soldiers first entered almost a week ago at the area at the intersection of the international border and the LAC, the de facto border between the two countries. They allegedly brought in in heavy construction equipment and a large labour force to set up a road up to the border.
India and China have had many confrontations at the border since April last year, when some 50 Chinese soldiers crossed over and set up a remote camp at Daulat Beg Oldie in the Depsang Valley, 19 kilometres into Indian territory, leading to a 21-day diplomatic standoff.