NEW DELHI: India on Saturday issued a point-by-point rebuttal to the Chinese claim made earlier in the day on the Galwan Valley, rejecting allegations that it was the Indian side that triggered the violent face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on June 15.“The position with regard to the Galwan Valley area has been historically clear. Attempts by the Chinese side to now advance exaggerated and untenable claims with regard to Line of Actual Control (LAC) there are not acceptable. They are not in accordance with China’s own position in the past,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
In a series of tweets in the morning, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian had claimed that the Galwan Valley is located on the Chinese side of the LAC in the Western section of the Sino-Indian boundary. “For many years, the Chinese border troops have been patrolling and on duty in this region,” he claimed.Zhao accused Indian troops of unilaterally and continuously built roads, bridges and other facilities at the LAC in Galwan Valley. “China lodged representations and protests on multiple occasions but India went even further to cross the LAC and made provocations,” he argued.
‘India has never undertaken any actions across LAC’
Rejecting Zhao’s allegations, Srivastava said Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the LAC in all sectors, including Galwan Valley.
“The Indian side has never undertaken any actions across the LAC. In fact, they have been patrolling this area for a long time without any incident. All infrastructure built by the Indian side is naturally on its own side of the LAC,” he underscored.
“On May 6, Indian border troops crossed LAC, trespassed into China’s territory, built fortification & barricades, which impeded the patrol of Chinese border troops. They deliberately made provocations in an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of control and management,” Zhao had claimed.
Srivastava also dismissed Zhao’s allegations that the Indian side was unilaterally trying to alter status quo and said the Chinese side had transgressed the LAC. “We do not accept the contention that India was unilaterally changing the status quo. On the contrary, we were maintaining it. Subsequently in May, the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC in other areas of the Western Sector of the India-China border areas. These attempts were invariably met with an appropriate response from us,” he said.
Zhao’s accusations that the Indian troops had violated the June 6 commander-level agreement and attacked Chinese soldiers, was also rebutted, with the spokesperson pointing out that the Chinese side had departed from these understandings in respect of the LAC in the Galwan Valley area and sought to erect structures just across the LAC. When this attempt was foiled, Chinese troops took to violence on June 15. Srivastava reiterated that MEA, in a telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart had conveyed New Delhi’s protest in the strongest terms.