Source: Times of India
BEIJING: China on Sunday took note of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks over PLA’s incursion into the Depsang Valley and said that it is willing to work with New Delhi to deal with differences while maintaining peace at borders and forging strategic cooperative partnership.
“We have noted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement,” a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry said.
“The two sides have been in communication through the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on boundary affairs, border meetings and diplomatic channels for a solution to the incident in part of the western section of the China-India border,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the reaction was in response to a question over Singh’s remarks that Chinese troops incursion into the Depsang Valley in Ladakh can be settled through talks.
Singh told media in New Delhi on Saturday that India does not want to “accentuate” the situation in the wake of the recent Chinese incursion in Ladakh and is working on a plan to resolve it.
“We do have a plan. We do not want to accentuate the situation. We do believe that it is possible to resolve this problem. It is a localized problem. I think the talks are going on,” Singh said.
China had denied that its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers had pitched tents in Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in Ladakh amounted to trespass and violation of the line of actual control (LAC).
The Chinese statement said “we stand ready to work together with India to properly deal with differences and maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas in a bid to boost the healthy and stable development of China-India strategic and cooperative partnership.”
It said “while actively developing friendly cooperation in recent years, China and India have committed themselves to settling disputes including the boundary question through peaceful negotiation and preventing the disputes from affecting the development of bilateral relations”.
The two sides are currently trying to resolve the issue through border consultation mechanism inked last year even as external affairs minister Salman Khurshid is due visit Beijing on May 9, which officials said would be followed by new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visit to New Delhi.