Chinese troops in Uttarakhand border a transgression and not incursion: Parrikar

New Delhi: The incident regarding Chinese troops entering the border district of Chamoli in Uttarakhand is that of “transgression” and not “incursion”, the government said today.

Responding to queries from the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the border has not been demarcated and the two sides have a “different perception” about it.

He said on July 22, two PLA soldiers entered 200 metres in Barholi area of Uttarakhand inside the Indian territory and the villagers warned them.

“The Line of Actual Control (LAC) has not been formally demarcated. So there is different perception about this of both the sides,” he said, adding that there are mechanisms like flag meetings by both the sides to resolve such issues.

“During such meetings, we have made our protests to the Chinese side. There was no incursion, only transgression,” Parrikar said.

The Minister said every year, there are about 400-500 incidents of transgression, but this year it has come down.

Parrikar also noted that it is the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) under the Ministry of Home Affairs that takes care of the LAC and not the Defence Ministry.

The debate also saw a bonhomie between the Congress and the BJD. The Congress members were aggressive over the issue and asked Parrikar to respond.

When the Minister said the boundary has not been demarcated, Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) strongly objected to it.

At this point, Congress President Sonia Gandhi intervened and lauded Mahtab for raising the point.

Need to verify authenticity of report: PLA on Uttarakhand incursion

From K J M Varma
Beijing:China today responded cautiously to the transgression by its troops in Uttarakhand, saying it needs to verify the “authenticity of the report” about incursion and asserted that PLA soldiers have always abided by agreements to maintain peace and stability along the border.

“We still need to verify the authenticity of the report you mentioned,” Chinese Defence Spokesman Senior Colonel Yang Yujun told a media briefing here today when asked about incursion by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops in Uttarakhand.

“I would like to emphasis here that Chinese border defence troops always abided by relevant agreements signed between the two countries,” he said.

The Chinese troops “always conducted activities on the Chinese side of Line of Actual Control. We are committed to maintaining peace and stability along the China-India border,” Yang said.

Chinese troops transgressed the border on land and by air in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand earlier this month when its men stationed themselves in a dimilitarised zone and its helicopters flew in the Indian air space for over five minutes.

The incident took place on July 19 in Barahoti area, prompting the security establishment to review the security along the 350 kilometres border with Tibet in this area.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has termed the development as “something to worry about”.

Responding to another question on the Indian army beefing up security along the border in Ladakh with reported deployment of tanks to match the development on the Chinese side, Yang said, “We have token note of the relevant report”.

“I would like to emphasise that China and India are neighbours, partners not competitors or enemies,” he said.

“It is the common aspiration of the Chinese and Indian people to maintain peace, stability along the border. We hope that Indian side can work in the same direction as the Chinese side and implement the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries and maintain peace tranquility along the China-India border,” he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, in his reaction to the Indian army deployment in Ladakh last week, had said, “the two countries should abide by relevant agreements and consensus, work in concert to maintain peace and tranquility of the border area and create a favourable environment for improving bilateral mutual trust and bolster the proper settlement of the boundary question.”

However, at that time, an article in the state-run Global Times had said the tank deployment by India may upset flow of Chinese investments into India and had called for joint efforts to clear misunderstandings.

Conduct of Chinese journos not in sync with visa rules: MEA

New Delhi:In first official comment, India today said the three Chinese journalists of state-run news agency Xinhua were denied visa extension as there were issues relating to their “conduct not being in conformity” with the provisions of the visa rules.

“This matter has been under discussion for some time now.

Visa of the Xinhua Bureau Chief in New Delhi had expired on the 31st December, 2015, while visas of the two Xinhua correspondents in Mumbai, had expired in March, 2016. When the time came for renewing their visas, there were issues relating to their conduct not being in conformity with the provisions of the visa rules.

“Short-term extensions were given to them in the expectation that they would be replaced. Thereafter, we made it clear to Xinhua that it would not be possible for us to extend the visas of the journalists concerned beyond 31st July, 2016,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Asserting that the ministry has been in touch with the Chinese side on this matter, he said government expects no issues when their replacements come in due course.

With the expansion of bilateral ties between India and China, the resident journalists in both countries have a key role in increasing mutual understanding and appreciation and contributing to stronger people to people ties, he said.

In this regard, MEA will continue to facilitate the work of the resident journalists from all countries and their periodic replacement in accordance with the applicable laws, he added.

PTI