China denies PLA incursion into Uttarakhand

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 13

China on Thursday denied Indian media reports of Chinese military transgression at the Line of Actual Control three times in a month into “Uttarakhand”.

Responding to media queries, Chinese Foreign Minister Geng Shuang said Chinese border troops operate on Chinese side of the LAC “in compliance with the relevant agreements reached between the two countries”.

“What I have learnt is that the Chinese side was carrying out routine patrol on the Chinese territory,” said Geng at the daily press briefing.

Reports had suggested that the farthest Chinese transgression last month reached 4 km into India’s “territory”.

“President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have met several times recently, during which important consensus was reached on properly managing differences and disputes and jointly maintaining peace and tranquility of the border areas.

“China and India also have well-established communication and meeting mechanism for border-related affairs. What’s happened in the border areas could be dealt with through this mechanism. Resorting to the media to heat things up will not help control disputes,” added Geng.

It took a Wuhan informal summit between PM Modi and President Xi to reset ties months after the 73-day Doklam tense stand-off between the two armies at the trI junction with Bhutan last year.

“Our two countries should work in concert to earnestly implement the instructions of our leaders and uphold peace and tranquility of the border areas”, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson today.