The Congress Saturday raised questions on the Union government’s assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to “direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation” of troops along the Line of Actual Control, pointing out that there was a “fundamental” difference in the statements put out by New Delhi and Beijing after the high-level talks. The main Opposition party said the readouts issued by New Delhi and Beijing after the Modi-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa were as different as “chalk and cheese”. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said the talk of de-escalation and disengagement is “just talk in the air” on the Indian side. The party also asked probing questions to the government. Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari asked on whose terms the disengagement, if any, is happening. “Is India now willing to accept 1959 Chinese claim line? What happened to India’s position restore Status quo ante to pre April 2020 for normalisation of relations. What will happen to 2000 square Kilometres of Indian Territory under Chinese occupation since April 2020?,” he said in a post on social media site X. Chibambaram said the difference between India’s statement and China’s statement is not a trivial or cosmetic difference and argued this was not the first time that there is wide divergence between the statements of the two countries. “The difference is fundamental and reveals the huge gap between what the GoI wants the Indian people to believe and the reality,” he said. Briefing reporters after the Modi-Xi meeting, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra had said that the two leaders had agreed to “direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation” of troops along the Line of Actual Control. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, on the other hand, did not refer to any agreement, and merely said that President Xi “stressed that improving China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and peoples, and is also conducive to peace, stability and development of the world and the region.” The “bitter reality”, Chidambaram said, is that “China has not budged an inch from its position and Chinese troops continue to occupy Indian territory.” “The talk of de-escalation and disengagement is just talk in the air on the Indian side. This is deeply regrettable,” he said. Tewari said it is interesting that the Chinese read out of the meeting makes no mention of disengagement. “Instead it says the meeting was held at India’s request and the two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border region,” he said. “Given the two read outs are as different as chalk and cheese.the question is. disengagement if any is happening on whose terms?” he said.
