Bonhomie with a caveat

On the floor of the parliament, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke about the India-China border crisis, after a long delay and consistent demands from opposition members.

- 

He admitted that "China is in illegal occupation of 38,000 sq. kms. of Indian territory in Aksai Chin as a result of the 1962 conflict and the events that preceded it". Regarding the present situation, he said that "India and China have held talks for multiple decades to resolve the boundary issue. While there is a Line of Actual Control (LAC), it does not have a common understanding in some areas". He further added that India remains "committed to engaging with China through bilateral discussions to arrive at a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for a boundary settlement." His act of communicating to the Lok Sabha is delayed but appreciable. It is an improvement over unsubstantiated remarks outrightly denying any possession of Indian territory by the Chinese—implied in a statement made by none other than the Indian PM in June 2020.