Border Issue With India Should Not Be Linked To Bilateral Relations: China

It's been over a year since the military standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh and the two side are now engaged in talks to extend the disengagement process to the remaining friction points.

China on Wednesday said the prolonged border issue with India should be addressed through peaceful negotiations and not be linked to bilateral relations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian was reacting to Foreign Minister S Jaishankar's comments at the Qatar Economic Forum Tuesday that China's military deployment along the disputed border with India and uncertainty over whether Beijing will fulfil its promise on troop reductions remain a challenge for relations between the two neighbours. "We advocate that we should address the boundary issue through peaceful negotiations and we don't think that the border issue should be linked up to our bilateral ties," Zhao Lijian said at a media briefing in Beijing. Zhao Lijian said the military deployment by China in the Western sector along the border is a "normal defensive arrangement".