UPDATES WITH STATEMENTS FROM BOTH COUNTRIES, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, BYLINE, DATELINE, EDITS THROUGHOUT
By Shuriah Niazi
NEW DELHI (AA) – India and China agreed on Wednesday to resolve their border dispute in a responsible and peaceful manner following a deadly clash earlier this week.
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jainshankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held a telephone conversation — the first direct top level contact following the faceoff that killed 20 Indian soldiers on Monday night — to discuss the situation.
This is first high-profile civilian contact between the two countries ever since tensions erupted in Ladakh area of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region in early May.
"It was agreed that the overall situation would be handled in a responsible manner, and both sides would implement the disengagement understanding of 6 June sincerely," said Indian External Affairs Ministry in a statement following the phone call.
"Neither side would take any action to escalate matters and instead, ensure peace and tranquility as per bilateral agreements and protocols," it added.
However, Jaishankar told Yi, according to the statement, that Beijing took "pre-meditated and planned action that was directly responsible for the resulting violence and casualties. It reflected an intent to change the facts on ground in violation of all our agreements to not change the status quo.”
He also underlined that this unprecedented development will have a serious impact on the bilateral relationship. The need of the hour was for the Chinese side to reassess its actions and take corrective steps.”
“They [China] should strictly respect and observe the Line of Actual Control and should not take any unilateral action to alter it,” said Jaishankar.
– Prevent provocations
For his part, China’s foreign minister asked India to “restrain its military to prevent any provocative” actions in the region.
He accused the Indian army of seriously violating "the agreement reached by the two countries on the border issue," according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
"We demand that the Indian side conduct a thorough investigation on this, severely punish those responsible for the incident, strictly control the frontline troops, and immediately stop all provocative actions to ensure that such incidents cannot occur again," he said.
"The Indian side must not misjudge the current situation and must not underestimate China’s firm will to safeguard territorial sovereignty," he added.
However, the statement also underlined that both sides "agreed to deal fairly with the serious events caused by the conflict in the Gallevan Valley, jointly abide by the consensus reached at the military-level meetings of the two sides, cool down the situation on the ground as soon as possible, and maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas in accordance with the agreement reached so far between the two countries."
This is the first time since 1975 that China and India engaged in a fatal military clash along their mutual border.
Border tensions between the two countries have existed for over seven decades.
China claims territory in India's northeast, while New Delhi accuses Beijing of occupying its territory in Aksai Chin plateau, including part of the Ladakh region which are part of Jammu and Kashmir region.
*Riyaz ul Khaliq from Ankara contributed to this story.
