Guwahati: India has warned that changes to established Chinese military patrol routes could disrupt the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), saying stability along the frontier remains important for improving ties between the two countries.
The External Affairs Ministry issued the statement on Friday, a day after Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General Shatrujeet Kapur reported that Indian and Chinese troops continue to face confrontations at multiple locations along the Arunachal Pradesh border.
During a regular media briefing, ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “As we have noted in the past, the situation in the India-China border areas gets disturbed from time to time when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns,”
Jaiswal said both countries would rely on their existing diplomatic and military channels to address unresolved matters and reduce the risk of misinterpretations or miscalculations along the LAC.
“Both sides will continue to use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the Line of Actual Control,” he said.
He also said the two countries had agreed to explore ways to develop a clearer understanding of the LAC in selected areas to strengthen border management.
“I would also like to emphasise that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations,” he added.
Kapur made his remarks in Alwar, Rajasthan, on Thursday. He said the ITBP had established drone platoons across all its border units and developed a new training programme called “Strike” to improve preparedness for clashes of the kind witnessed in the Galwan Valley.
India and China have taken several steps over the past year to restore relations, which deteriorated sharply following the deadly 2020 Galwan Valley clashes and a military standoff that lasted more than four years.
In October 2024, the two countries reached an agreement on withdrawing troops from Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh, the final two areas of friction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan days later and agreed on measures to advance bilateral relations.
Modi visited Tianjin in China in August last year for the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. In talks with Xi on the sidelines, he said India wanted to develop ties with China on the basis of mutual trust, respect and sensitivity.
The two leaders met again last month for bilateral discussions on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi. Modi said both countries needed to respect each other’s core concerns and follow the “three mutuals”: mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest.
India has consistently called for continued engagement through diplomatic and military channels to settle pending border matters, limit the possibility of misunderstandings along the LAC and maintain stability while bilateral ties improve.