• By Mayukh Debnath
  • Sat, 26 Aug 2023 02:15 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND
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Congress MP Manish Tewari on Saturday claimed that the readout issued by China's government and that released by the Centre on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping's brief interaction during the recently concluded 15th BRICS Summit are "very" contradictory. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, PM Modi discussed with Xi the disengagement process with respect to the ongoing Indo-China border dispute in eastern Ladakh.

"There's a very wide divergence between the readout given by the Indian Foreign Secretary and the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China about what transpired during the meeting between PM Modi and President Xi Jinping," the former union minister said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

To support his claim, Tewari pointed out a purported difference in the wording of the two communiques. "While Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra says that both the leaders agreed to give guidance to their respective governments or militaries with regard to disengagement, the Chinese readout doesn't use any of these terminologies at all," he stated.

While casting aspersions about the disengagement process, the Congress leader questioned as to who was dictating the terms of de-escalation. "It (the readout) only talks about properly managing the border. Properly managing the border doesn't mean disengagement...If disengagement is going to happen, it will happen on whose terms, India or China?"

Apprising the press about PM Modi and the Chinese President's latest interaction, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, "In a conversation with President Xi Jinping of China, Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] highlighted India's concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border areas."

He added, "Prime Minister underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship. In this regard, the two leaders agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation."

The latest border row between India and China saw a steep escalation in June 2020, when Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a fatal brawl in the Galwan Valley. So far, the two countries have held 19 rounds of military commander talks to solve issues in eastern Ladakh.


(With inputs from ANI)

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