Strictly abiding by relevant agreements with India, says China

Days after Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General Shatrujeet Kapur talked about face-offs between Indian and Chinese troops at multiple locations in Arunachal Pradesh, and that the situation continues, Beijing -- in its first official comments after the statement -- on Monday said it is strictly abiding by the relevant agreements with India and conducts normal border patrols to safeguard its sovereignty.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said on Friday that friction points typically occur when Chinese forces depart from established patrolling patterns in border pockets.

Responding to this, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a media briefing, "China strictly abides by the relevant agreements and common understandings reached between the two countries, and conducts normal border patrol and control activities to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and stability in the border areas."

He said China and India maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels. "We hope that India will work with China in the same direction by jointly implementing the common understandings reached between the two sides and maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas with concrete actions," Guo said.

Last week, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said the situation along the LAC is disturbed from time to time when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns, asserting that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations.

"Both sides continue to use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the LAC," Jaiswal said.

Kapur's comments came over a month after India and China held talks amid reports of tensions in Arunachal Pradesh's Taksing area. While he did not name China, Kapur praised the Indo-Tibetan Border Police's Shaurya Commando teams for handling the situation in Arunachal Pradesh.

"In the past few days, a situation arose where face-offs happened at several locations in Arunachal, and it still continues," Kapur said while speaking at the annual felicitation ceremony for ITBP personnel in Rajasthan's Alwar.

On September 6, the Corps Commander-level talks were held at the Wacha-Damai border meeting point on the Indian side to address ongoing issues along the LAC in the area. India and China have taken a series of measures over the last two years to rebuild their relationship after it came under severe strain following the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020 and the subsequent military face-off that lasted for over four years.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping on the margins of the BRICS summit in New Delhi. Modi had stressed that both sides must show sensitivity to each other's core issues and let relations be guided by the "three mutuals" -- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity, and mutual interest.