Any Attempt to Change Status Quo Along LAC in Ladakh is ‘Unacceptable’: Jaishankar | Earth Indian

New Delhi: Any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is “unacceptable” to India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted on Saturday evening amid the neverending border row in eastern Ladakh.

Delivering a lecture at the Sardar Patel Memorial, Jaishankar said India and China have come under “severe stress” after China’s attempt to breach the border in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. The agreements inked by both sides over the last few years must be respected “scrupulously” in their “entirety” to restore normalcy in relations, he said.

“Peace and tranquillity in the border areas provided the basis for expanded cooperation in other domains. But as the pandemic unfolded, the relationship has come under severe stress. To restore normalcy, agreements between the two countries must be respected scrupulously in their entirety. Where the Line of Actual Control is concerned, any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo is unacceptable,” the minister said.

“As far as China is concerned, ties were stable for three decades as the two nations addressed inherited challenges and new circumstances…The relationship cannot be immune to changes in the assumptions that underpinned it,” he said.

The lecture was aired on All India Radio, Jaishankar also referred to cross-border terrorism and said India has to be uncompromising in combating it.

India has been maintaining that the agreements inked between the two countries since 1993 for management of the frontier must be respected and effectively implemented, he said, adding peace and tranquility along the LAC is the basis for the overall development of the ties.

“Large civilizational states re-emerging in close proximity will not have naturally easy ties. Their interests are best served by a sustained engagement based on mutual respect and mutual sensitivity,” he said.

Talking about the strategy on national security, Jaishankar said advocating sweeping solutions without laying the groundwork may be dramatic politics, and mentioned about creation of border infrastructure along the northern border.

“As an outlook, the Neighbourhood First policy remains generous and non-reciprocal in creating the basis for shared activities in different domains. In recent times, India has also become more conscious of the extended neighbourhood, that is so much a part of its history and heritage,” he said.

India and China are locked in an over five-month-long bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh that has significantly strained their ties. Both sides held a series of diplomatic and military talks to resolve the row. However, no breakthrough has been achieved to end the standoff.

(With PTI inputs)

By Shivam Urkude || Earth Indian