India on Friday raised its concern with China’s new Premier Li Keqiang over recent incursion by the People’s Liberation Army troops in the Ladakh region, calling for steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
External affairs minister Salman Khurshid flagged India’s concern over the incident to Mr Li when he called on him here.
“I brought up the border matter. I wanted endorsement from their side to what we were hoping would be (the) way in which to ensure to the best of our ability as much as humanly possible that such episodes do not recur,” he told reporters.
Chinese troops intruded 19 km into Indian territory in Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in the Depsang Valley on April 15, triggering a row. The three-week stand off ended on May 5 when Chinese troops withdrew to their original position. “We put a lid on it so that we can talk about all the positive things we are working on. The positives (in continuing the bilateral relations) are far reaching meaningful, rewarding for both of us as they have tremendous potential,” Mr Khurshid said in response to a question.
Earlier, the India-China joint mechanism on border coordination met here to review the recent standoff.
The border mechanism headed by Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary east of the external affairs ministry and his Chinese counterpart met for the first time to review the Depsang valley incident and steps to be taken to ensure that it was not repeated. A military delegation from India also joined the talks.