Singh spoke with his Chinese counterpart, General Li Shangfu, on Thursday ahead of the meeting of defense ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which India chairs this year.
India’s defense minister “categorically” reiterated New Delhi’s position, according to a statement released Thursday evening by his ministry.
General Lee announced in a statement posted online on Friday that the situation at the border was “stable”. “We hope both sides will work together to continuously build mutual trust,” he said.
context of the border dispute
Relations between the two Asian powers have been strained since a clash in the region that killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers in June 2020. Since then, the two neighbors have mobilized tens of thousands of troops along the border. The military deployment has continued despite 18 rounds of talks between the two countries’ senior military officials. India worries about the growing military presence of its northern neighbor, while disputes around its 3,500 km border are a constant source of tension. China claims the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India, considering it part of Tibet. The two sides fought a border war in 1962. Beijing and New Delhi regularly accuse each other of trying to seize territory along the informal boundary line between them, known as the Line of Actual Control.
The clash that took place in 2020 along the western border separating Tibet from the Indian state of Ladakh led to a sharp deterioration in relations, prompting both sides to send large reinforcements to the region.
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