By IANS,
New Delhi : Seeking to squash the “hype” over recent Chinese incursions, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao Saturday said there has been “no significant increase” in intrusions across all sections of the border and stressed that the leadership of the two countries are in constant touch.
“There has been no significant increase in intrusions across all sections of the Line of Actual Control (LAC),” Rao told reporters when asked if the external affairs ministry was trying to downplay reported Chinese incursions across the disputed border.
“That’s because there is no mutually agreed or delineated border. This is not a new phenomenon. It has been going on for years,” she said.
“Contrary to the popular perception, the situation along the border has remained peaceful for decades,” Rao stressed.
She brushed off alarming reports in the Indian media on Chinese intrusions. “There has been a hype and a certain intensification of volume about the manner in which it has been reported.”
Rao said that there are established mechanisms like border personnel meetings to address issues relating to intrusions, and stressed that they have “worked well”.
Underlining the developing nature of relationship between India and China, Rao, a former ambassador to China, said the leadership of the two countries are in regular communication over important bilateral issues.
“We remain in constant touch over all mutual issues. This is a relationship we have been able to develop. The leadership-level understandings and communication remain open all the time,” she said when asked if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Chinese President Hu Jintao recently over the issue of incursions.
“There is regular communication and a mutual recognition that outstanding issues can be resolved through dialogue and communication between two nations as large as ours with international responsibilities,” she said.
Rao, however, added that no bilateral meeting has been planned between Manmohan Singh and Hu on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, US, next week.
Manmohan Singh will go to Pittsburgh Thursday for the third G20 summit of major and emerging economies that aims at mitigating the global financial crisis.
India and China have held 13 rounds of talks to resolve the border row. But this has led to little progress, with both sides reiterating their stated positions.