Indian army chief remarks cannot help to preserve peace of border area: China

BEIJING, Jan 15 (APP):Taking a strong note of remarks by the Indian army chief about China and the Donglong border area, a Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Monday said the negative remarks by a senior Indian official were against the consensus reached between the heads of the state of two countries and it could not help to preserve tranquility and peace of the border areas.
“The nonconstructive remarks by the senior Indian official not only go against the consensus reached between the two heads of state but do not conform to the efforts made by the two sides to improve and develop bilateral relations,” Lu Kang said during his regular press briefing.
Responding to a question about the statement of Indian army chief in which he said China was a strong country but India was not a weak country and admitted that Indian army entered the territory which did not belong to Indian during Donglong standoff last year, he said the Indian army chief remarks could not help to preserve the tranquility and peace of the border areas.
He asked the Indian military to learn lessons, abide by the historical conventions between the two countries and earnestly uphold peace and tranquility of border area besides creating a sound atmosphere for positive development of China-India bilateral relations.
“We require from the Indian military to learn lessons, abide by the historical conventions, earnestly uphold the peace and tranquility of the border area and create a sound atmosphere for positive development of bilateral relations,” he added.
Lu Kang remarked that China-India relations had witnessed some twists and turns in the past one year and said in the BRICS leaders’ summit meeting in last September, the two heads of state had reached some important consensus to properly handle the differences and promote bilateral relations back to the track of sound and steady development.
Recently, the two sides had enhanced dialogue and consultations and the bilateral relations had showed sound momentum of improvement and development, he added.
Terming China and India as important neighbors, he observed that both the countries were at the critical stage of national development and rejuvenation.
“The two countries should enhance strategic communication, eliminate strategic doubts and conduct strategic cooperation,” he added.
Lu Kang urged the Indian side to follow the important consensus reached between the two leaders and do more things to preserve peace and tranquility on border areas and refrain from doing the things which may complicate the situation.
He also called upon India to constructively handle the relevant affairs and promote sound and steady development of the bilateral relations, adding, “This is in common interest of the whole region and also serves the interest of Indian side.”
The spokesperson also pointed out that the remarks of the army chief once again showed that the illegal trespass of the Indian border troops was quite clear cut in nature.
He, however, made it clear that the Donglong belonged to China and Sikkim section of the China-India boundary had been delaminated by the historical convention.
“Donglong is China’s territory and China will continue to exercise its sovereignty rights in Donglong area in accordance with historical conventions and steadfastly uphold its territorial sovereignty,” he added.
To yet another question, he said the patrolling and holding by China’s border guards in the Donglang area was based on the stipulation of historical conventions, exercising its sovereign rights and safeguarding the territorial sovereignty.
“As I said just now, we hope India can learn from it and avoid the recurrence of some incidents that took place last year,” he added.
He said the relations between the two sides had also shown signs of improvement in overall development for some time.
“I believe everybody can feel that against this background, the remark made by the top Indian military official is inconsistent with the spirit of the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and the current efforts of both China and India to improve the general trend of the relations between the two parties and the promotion of strategic cooperation is also incompatible,” he added.
“We believe such remarks are not conducive to the joint efforts of the two countries to maintain peace and stability across the border and to India itself,” he concluded.