China's agreement violations eroded bilateral relations: India slams

New Delhi: Sending a strong message to China, India said that violating existing agreements has eroded the basis of bilateral relations. India said so at the first meeting of defence ministers of the two nations since the Galwan incident, NDTV reported.

NDTV quoted the communique of the meeting between Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his counterpart General Li Shangfu, "The Raksha Mantri categorically conveyed that development of relations between India and China is premised on the prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders".

The meeting was on the sidelines of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) meeting.

The statement further read, "He added that all issues at the LAC need to be resolved in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and commitments. He reiterated that violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation."

After 18 rounds of talks between the military commanders of both sides, troops were disengaged at many places in Ladakh, including Hot Springs, Galwan, and the north bank of Pangong Lake. But, in Demchok and Depsang, a resolution has not been met completely. There, China occupies large swathes of Indian territory.

Earlier this week, both sides agreed to accelerate settlement of issues and safeguard peace in border areas.

After multiple transgressions by China in Ladakh, clashes happened between troops of the two sides, and the worst of them happened in Galwan, where 20 soldiers died in action in 2020.

After that, there were reports of China building infrastructure such as roads and airbases in different areas in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.