“Not easy to come to any kind of settlement”: Vice Chief of Naval Staff lauds India-China patrolling agreement

New Delhi [India], October 22 (ANI): Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan has lauded the agreement between India and China on patrolling arrangements along Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, saying these are important national issues and it is not easy to come to any kind of settlement.

“All of us are happy. These are important national security issues. It’s not very easy to come to any kind of settlement because there are views, perceptions, emotive issues, there are land issues, national security considerations…There has been some kind of settlement and all of us are happy,” Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said here.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who on Monday addressed a special media briefing ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Russia for the BRICS Summit, said India and China have reached an agreement on the patrolling arrangements along LAC.

The agreement was reached ahead of the BRICS Summit which is being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Misri said as a result of the discussions with the Chinese interlocutors an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border areas.

He said this is leading to dis-engagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that arose after action by Chinese military in eastern Ladakh in 2020.

“We have been in discussion with Chinese interlocuters through WMCC as was mentioned earlier and at the military level as well through meetings of the military commanders at various levels. These discussions have in the past resulted in the resolution of standoffs at various locations. You are also aware that there were a few locations where the standoff had not been resolved,” he said.

“Now as a result of the discussions that have taken place over the last several weeks an agreement has been arrived at on patroling arrangements along the line of actual control in the India-China border areas and this is leading to dis-engagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020.”

MEA had said after the last Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held in August that the two sides had “a frank, constructive and forward-looking exchange of views on the situation along the LAC to narrow down the differences”.