India, China do not need help from outside to resolve border issue: Russia
Jun 23, 2020
Moscow [Russia], June 23 : Russia on Tuesday said that India and China have shown their commitment for peaceful resolution of the border issue and the two countries do not need "any help from outside" to resolve the matter.
Speaking at the virtual RIC foreign ministers' meeting, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow hopes that New Delhi and Beijing continue to be committed to a peaceful resolution of disputes.
"I don't think that India and China need any help from the outside. I do not think they need to be helped, especially when it comes to country issues. They can solve them on their own. In recent events, New Delhi and Beijing showed their commitment to a peaceful resolution," Lavrov said when asked whether Russia would help China and India in resolving the matter.
"They started meetings at the level of defence officers, foreign ministers and neither of the two sides made any statements which would indicate that any of them would pursue non-diplomatic solutions," he added.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi took part in the trilateral meeting.
It was held days after June 15 Galwan Valley violent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops as a result of an attempt by China to unilaterally change the status quo during de-escalation in eastern Ladakh. India has said that the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side.
India lost 20 of its soldiers in the violent face-off in the Galwan Valley and 10 Indian soldiers also were held captive and later released. Indian intercepts have revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including dead and seriously injured.
Indian Army 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh and his Chinese counterpart on Monday held 11 hours meeting at the Border Personnel Meeting Point at Moldo to reduce the tensions between the two countries.
Following the face-off, China's Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui and Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri met in Beijing on June 16.
Jaishankar held telephonic talks with Wang on June 17 and conveyed that what happened in Galway was a "pre-mediated and planned action that was directly responsible for the resulting violence and casualties."
