India on Tuesday rejected the Chinese claims on the location of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, where a military standoff continues since May this year.
In response to queries on the recent media report quoting a Chinese foreign ministry statement regarding China’s position on the LAC, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it has “seen” the report – published in a national daily — that quoted the Chinese foreign ministry on China’s position on the LAC in the India-China border areas.
Responding to the report, the ministry reminded China that the quoted position is the same as one taken by China in 1959 and the one which India has rejected.
The ministry said India has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 Line of Actual Control (LAC). This position has been consistent and well known, including to the Chinese side.
Furthermore, under their various bilateral agreements including the 1993 Agreement on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the LAC, 1996 Agreement on Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in the military field, 2005 Protocol on Implementation of CBMs, 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, both India and China have committed to clarification and confirmation of the LAC to reach a common understanding of the alignment of the LAC.
In fact, the two sides had engaged in an exercise to clarify and confirm the LAC up to 2003 but this process could not proceed further as the Chinese side did not show a willingness to pursue it.
