COMMITTED TO MAINTAINING STABILITY ALONG LAC: CHINESE FOREIGN MIN

BEIJING: The lack of a demarcated border between India and China will lead to problems, though Beijing is committed to maintaining stability along the disputed frontier, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has said.

Beijing is willing to resolve differences with New Delhi through dialogue, and it is India that is to blame for current tensions at the border, Wang contended while speaking at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris on Monday.

The two sides shouldn’t allow their differences to become conflicts, he said, hours after the Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) accused each other of triggering fresh tensions on the south bank of Pangong Lake along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Wang, who is on a week-long European tour that includes stops in France and Germany, made a speech and took questions from senior European politicians and executives.

“The border between China and India has not been demarcated, so there will always be problems of this kind. We are willing to manage various problems through dialogue with the Indian side. At the same time, these issues should be placed in appropriate places in bilateral relations,” Wang said, according to a Mandarin transcript of the interaction released by China’s foreign ministry.

“China-India relations have recently attracted the attention of all parties. What I want to tell you is China has always been committed to maintaining stability in the Sino-Indian border areas,” he added.

“We will not take the initiative to complicate and expand the situation. Of course, we must also firmly safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Pointing to the consensus reached in meetings between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Wang said: “Differences must be managed and controlled, especially not allowing differences to become conflicts.”

Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry continued to blame India for the latest tensions, with spokesperson Hua Chunying saying that even though the statements issued by the Indian and Chinese military on the incidents at Pangong Lake were different, there was “one simple truth” – China has never initiated a war or “taken an inch of land that is not ours” in more than 70 years.

We will not take the initiative to complicate and expand the situation.

WANG YI, Chinese foreign minister