China says its troops patrol routinely, asks India to honour border agreements

China's foreign ministry has responded to the tension on the India-China border. Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday, October 26, that Chinese troops carry out normal border patrols. According to him, China follows all rules and expects the same from India.

Guo said the path of diplomatic dialogue with India will always remain open. China hopes India will also respect mutual agreements and take concrete steps to maintain peace. Special attention will be paid to this in the border areas.

The Chinese side said such incidents occur, and cause unrest, when Chinese troops stray from the set patrol routes. China and India are in touch with each other through diplomatic and military channels. It was also said that concrete steps would be taken to implement the understanding reached between the two sides and to maintain peace and stability in the border areas.

On the Indian side, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that, as stated earlier, whenever Chinese troops stray from the set patrol routes, the situation in the India-China border areas worsens from time to time. He said both sides have also agreed to discuss ways of building mutual understanding on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in certain specific areas, in order to improve border management.

The matter came to light when Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General Shatrujeet Kapoor spoke at an event last week. He had spoken about the tension between the two countries on the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. He said a continuous confrontation had been going on for the past four months and that the Indian side was giving a firm response. The matter has been under discussion across the country since then.

According to Kapoor, clashes took place recently between Indian and Chinese soldiers at certain places on the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, and they are still continuing. He said the force's "Shaurya" commandos deployed on the LAC had done "excellent work" in handling the situation.

Kapoor also said India is focusing on increasing its drone and counter-drone capability, because "conventional" military resources and infrastructure are proving insufficient to face the People's Liberation Army (PLA). According to him, the PLA has improved and modernised its capabilities considerably, making China a "formidable adversary".

The ITBP has added drone platoons to all its border units. The Ministry of Home Affairs has given the force Rs 400 crore for modernisation, of which 70% has been set aside specifically for building up drone warfare capability. The force is also raising more units of "Shaurya" commandos trained in mountain warfare, next-generation weapons and unarmed combat.