Date of publication: 07-05-2013
After facing a lot of criticism about how to tackle the issue of S Singh and India's exercise of foreign policy vis-à-vis Pakistan, India's recent hardening of attitude with China seems to have paid off. India's Foreign Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, for a long time tried downplay the face-off between India and China in the Depsang Valley. But last week, en route to Tehran, the Minister indicated that his visit to China scheduled for May 9, may be called off if the face-off in Ladakh continued.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed today that the visit by Khurshid to China as scheduled will. "The Governments of India and China have agreed to restore the status quo ante along the line of actual control (LAC) in the Western Sector of the India-China border as it existed before April 15, 2013," said Syed Akbaruddin, official spokesman of the MEA, in a statement.
Beijing, while confirming the news, played with greater caution. It just said today that the "stand-off" with India was solved by means of ' fruitful consultation ", taking into account the larger interests of bilateral relations.
"After the stand-off in the border area, China and India with the larger interests of bilateral relations in mind have taken a cooperative and constructive attitude," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing said Ms Hua Chunying.
The two sides exercised restraint and properly handle the incident, diplomatic channels and relevant mechanisms edge meetings, she added.
Interestingly, both sides refused to discuss the details of the agreement reached. Speculation is rife that India had agreed to certain Chinese requirements such as the decommissioning of some infrastructure in another disputed sector. However, there is no confirmation of this from now on.
Khurshid from visit to China later this week in preparation for the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang that will be visiting Delhi on 20 May.
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