Washington: The United States has welcomed the recent reduction of tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, clarifying that it did not participate in resolving the ongoing border issues.
“We are closely following the developments and understand that both countries have taken initial steps to withdraw troops from the friction points along the Line of Actual Control. We welcome any reduction in tensions along the border. We have talked to our Indian partners and taken a brief on it, but we did not play any role in this resolution,” said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller at a Washington, DC briefing.
This response follows an agreement between India and China on new ‘patrolling arrangements’ along the LAC, marking significant progress in de-escalating the military standoff that has persisted since May 2020. The accord was reached after a bilateral meeting between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping during the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar confirmed that consensus had been reached on patrolling and disengagement in high-tension areas such as Depsang and Demchok. Jaishankar noted that patrols along the LAC would resume post-disengagement, restoring the arrangements that existed before the 2020 border tensions.
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Despite this advancement, Jaishankar cautioned that the agreement does not fully resolve the deeper issues between New Delhi and Beijing. Addressing the prolonged border situation, PM Modi remarked in an interview with Newsweek, “It is my belief that we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders so that the abnormality in our bilateral interactions can be put behind us.”
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Tensions between the two nations escalated following violent clashes in June 2020, resulting in the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers, with Chinese casualties remaining undisclosed.
