India has asked China to analyse and share the reasons for the recent incursion of Chinese troops in Depsang valley, even as Indian officials met in Beijing on Saturday to provide its version of the draft of a new border defence cooperation agreement, External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid said here on Thursday.
“I did say to Chinese side and also shared with premier (Li Keqiang) that we felt that it was important to analyse our respective systems to work out why such things happen,” Khurshid said after returning from his two-day trip to Beijing.
The minister said the Chinese were told that this was “extremely, important” that this issue is analysed as it plays a decisive role in shaping perceptions in civil society. “We were not doing post-mortem and we were not apportioning blame. We certainly felt that keeping larger interest of two countries in mind that something that cause enormous concern to our public opinion should be addressed,” added Khurshid.
This will, he added, be discussed in greater detail during meeting of the Special Representatives on border in the next few months.
He noted that officials from both sides were sitting together in Beijing to discuss the draft pact on border defence cooperation, which will consolidate many of the agreements and protocols on this issue.
“We also have some suggestions based on experience of past few years, which we have given. This should be in their hands hopefully today,” he said.
According to Khurshid, he “sensed an atmosphere of relief and desire to move forward” that the incursion incident had been resolved.
Khurshid revealed that even during the incursion, the body language of the Chinese troops camping at Depsang valley for three weeks was not as “hostile as one would imagine an incursion would be”.