PLA plays down Ladakh standoff, says situation under control

Playing down the continuing standoff at the Ladakh border region, China's military today said such incidents are "sometimes inevitable" but the situation is under "effective control" with the joint efforts of the two sides.
"Through the joint efforts of both sides it is under effective control and I hope that with the continued efforts of both sides it can be solved as soon as possible and peace and stability will be maintained at the China-India border," military spokesman Geng Yansheng told a media briefing here.
"I would like to emphasis again that because the China- India border is not demarcated, it is sometimes inevitable that incidents happen. What is important is for both sides to implement agreements signed by both sides to boost mutual understanding and mutual trust and make joint efforts to maintain peace stability in the India-China border region," he said, replying to a number of questions from PTI on why such incidents are taking place.

He said while it is quite natural for some incidents to happen along the border, "this kind of incidents will not change the overall situation of good neighbourliness and friendship between China and India".
The spokesman skipped questions on why the incursion took place coinciding with the visit of top Chinese leaders to India.
While Chinese troops entered the Depsang Valley in Ladakh region last year during Premier Li Keqiang's visit, the two armies were engaged in a stand-off at Chumar region in Ladakh coinciding with the visit of President Xi Jinping.

Referring to Xi's recent visit to India, Geng said the President made successful visit. During the visit both sides agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border region stating that it is an important factor for the further development of bilateral relations and continued growth of the two countries.

"It was reiterated that before the final settlement of the border issue, the two countries will jointly safeguard peace and stability in the border region," the spokesman said.
For the incidents at the China-India border region, there are channels of communication that are functioning quite well, he said.
"The problems can be solved through dialogue and consultation. Both sides should manage the situation and maintain peace stability in the area. In the recent incident both sides communicated with each other through the existing channels. The situation is currently under effective control and china and India border is peaceful," he said.

He refuted the perception that the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) signed last year has failed to prevent the standoffs from taking place.
"This agreement is of great significance for consolidating and improving the relations and consolidating the mutual trust between the two countries as well as effectively maintaining peace stability along the China India border," he said.
"In this agreement a lot of things are clearly regulated such as the content of the border defence cooperation, the working mechanisms, channels of communication and exchanges between the two border troops," he said.
"Of the content written in the agreement, some of it is put into practice while others are being in the process of being implemented. For example, if there is a standoff between the border troops both sides should keep maximum restraint and the two sides should conduct flag meeting in certain places along the LAC," he said.

Currently it is just because both sides are acting in the spirit of BDCA and other agreements, the incidents has taken under effective control the border region remained peaceful.
"This again demonstrates the necessity and effectiveness of the BDCA and other agreements," he said.