Congress' Rashid Alvi urges for transparency on agreements with China

New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) On Sunday, Congress leader Rashid Alvi called for the disclosure of the specific issues on which agreements have been reached between India and China.

Responding to the statement made by External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar regarding the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Congress leader said, "Jaishankar should disclose the specific issues on which agreements have been reached with China, as well as those still pending."

He added that a copy of any agreement made should be made public so that people understand the details, as the country does not trust China. "While the Prime Minister and EAM Jaishankar may trust China, the Chief of Army Staff has contradicted their stance, stating that China’s forces cannot be trusted until they fully withdraw like it was back in October 2020," said Rashid Alvi.

The EAM credited the recent breakthrough agreement with China regarding patrols along the LAC to the military, which operated under "very, very unimaginable" conditions, and to skilled diplomacy.

During an interaction with students in Pune, EAM Jaishankar earlier on Saturday, noted that it is still somewhat early for the normalisation of relations, as rebuilding trust and a willingness to collaborate will naturally take time.

He explained that India and China reached an understanding in certain areas after 2020 regarding how troops would return to their bases. However, a significant aspect of the negotiations centred on patrolling.

"There had been a blockage of patrolling, which we had been trying to negotiate for the last two years. On October 21, we reached an understanding that patrolling would resume in the specific areas of Depsang and Demchok as it used to be," EAM Jaishankar added.

He further asserted that the most pressing issue with China is disengagement and the second one is de-escalation.

"There are different aspects to the solution, but the most pressing issue is disengagement, as the troops are very close to each other, and the possibility of an incident is significant. So that is the first set of issues."

"Then there is de-escalation. Then there is a larger issue of how you manage the border and how you negotiate the boundaries. Right now, whatever is happening in China is happening due to the first part which is disengagement. We were trying to negotiate patrolling issues at the India-China border," he added.

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