Mea: Peace in border areas essential for normal ties with China: MEA | India News

NEW DELHI: With disengagement in eastern Ladakh still incomplete, the government on Thursday reiterated that return to normalcy in ties with with China would require restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
“The restoration of normalcy in our relationship will require restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas which have been disturbed since April 2020,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing.
The remarks came ahead of SCO defence and foreign ministers’ meeting that will likely see participation by Chinese ministers.
Bagchi was responding to a question on remarks by a Chinese diplomat that the situation in the India-China border areas is stable. “As the external affairs minister said, the presence of a large number of troops there in contravention of agreements is an abnormality. We have been holding discussions on diplomatic and military track,” Bagchi said.
The MEA spokesperson said that till the situation in border areas see a return to peace and tranquillity, “we cannot foresee normalcy in the overall relationship”.

The MEA expressed hope Chinese authorities would facilitate continued presence of Indian journalists in China. “There are Chinese journalists who have valid Indian visas to undertake journalistic activities,” Bagchi said responding to a question on the issue.
“From that perspective, we don’t see any difficulties in doing reporting (by the Chinese journalists). With regard to Indian journalists working in China, we would hope that Chinese authorities would facilitate their continued presence and reporting from China,” Bagchi said.