Indian and Chinese Army officials met at two places along the Sino-Indian border on Thursday to in a bid to strengthen ties on the harvest festival. They also pledged to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border.
Brigadier Rajender Rai and Colonel BS Uppal met Col. Wang Jun Xian and Lt. Col. Duan Yu Gangin at Chushul and Daulat Beg Oldi, respectively, along the India-China border — Line of Actual Control (LAC). The area has faced incursions by the Chinese People Liberation's Army (PLA) in recent years over disputes regarding the exact position of the border.
"Both the armies agreed to uphold the treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two sides during two ceremonial Border Personnel Meetings (BPM) in Eastern Ladakh today [Thursday]," SD Goswami, the Northern Command's Defence spokesperson, was quoted as saying by the Deccan Chronicle.
During the event, national flags of the two countries were saluted by the two delegations.
"These were composed of exchange of greetings and wishes and reflected the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border," Goswami was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
In 2014, China had accepted that they had committed an act of incursion due to a wrong perception of the LAC, the Press Trust of India reported. On March 8, 11 members of the PLA entered 6 kms inside the Indian territory, but were sent back within a day, the Hindustan Times reported. The group was led by a colonel rank officer.
"The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) men showed banners and told the Chinese troops to go back. After a two-hour long verbal duel, the Chinese men went back. Such incidents keep on happening because of difference of perception on the LAC," a security official told HT.
To further improve defence ties, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will travel to China next week despite.
"Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC," Goswami was quoted as saying by DC.
