India-China border frictions recur as Chinese forces stray from patrol routes, MEA clarifies stand

New Delhi: A day after Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) director general Shatrujeet Kapur spoke about ongoing face-offs between Indian and Chinese forces at more than one location along the Arunachal Pradesh frontier, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that border frictions occasionally occur when Chinese forces stray from agreed-upon patrolling routes.

"As we have noted in the past, the situation in the India-China border areas gets disturbed from time to time when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns," Jaiswal said.

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He further said, "Both sides continue to use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two sides have also agreed to discuss ways to improve understanding of LAC in appropriate areas for better border management. I would also like to emphasise that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations."

Kapur had made the remarks at the Himveer Samman Samaroah, ITBP's annual ceremony to honour its personnel, held at the Central Training College in Alwar, Rajasthan. "In the past few days, a situation arose where face-offs happened at several locations in Arunachal and it still continues," he said.

Crediting the force's newly formed Shaurya commandos, the ITBP chief said, "Our newly raised Shaurya commandos played an exemplary role in this. ITBP was raised as a mountain guerilla force, and we were given border guarding duty along China in 2004."

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"We need not leave our original function, and a specialised high-altitude mountain fighting force is being set up, distinct from the army. We will soon have one full battalion of Shaurya commandos; high-altitude deployment is our strength," Kapur added.