China failure to honour pacts led to tension at LAC: EAM

NEW DELHI: China’s failure to observe bilateral agreements for border peace led to the “currently tense” situation, foreign minister S Jaishankar has reiterated. Speaking in Vienna, the minister said China tried to unilaterally change the LAC.
In an interview to Austria’s national broadcaster ORF on Monday, Jaishankar said India had agreements with China not to amass force in the border areas. “We had an agreement not to unilaterally change the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which they (China) have tried to unilaterally do,” he said.

Replying to a counter question on what if China also says that India did not observe the agreements, he said it is difficult for Beijing to say that as the “record is very clear”.
“Today, there is a lot of transparency in satellite pictures. If we see who moved the forces to the border areas first, I think the record is very clear. So, it’s very difficult for China to say what you have suggested they could,” Jaishankar said.

Indian and Chinese troops clashed along LAC in Tawang sector on December 9 and the face-off resulted in “minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides”, as per the Indian Army.
It's the first major clash between the Indian and Chinese armies since the fierce face-off in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.
The ties between the two countries froze since then with India making it clear that peace and tranquillity at the border is the sine qua non for the overall development of bilateral ties.
The two countries have held 17 rounds of talks so far to resolve the standoff.