Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi
Even as diplomats and Army officials from both India and China try hard to diffuse the latest escalation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Leh, Pakistan's top leadership has put the onus of the faceoff entirely on New Delhi. A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan attributed the standoff in Leh to India's border policy, the country's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stated that Beijing couldn't remain "oblivious" to the construction of airstrips and infrastructure building along the LAC.
In what seemed like an echo of the stand adopted by Chinese officials and the hawkish state media, including Global Times, Qureshi said that China didn't "want a confrontation" with India and "desires to sort out issues through dialogue."
The remarks from Qureshi came around the same time when the Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong told several Indian media outlets that the border differences between the two Asian giants must not overshadow the overall bilateral relationship.
Earlier in the day, China said that the situation at the border with India was "overall stable and controllable," and both the countries had proper mechanisms and communication channels to resolve the issues through a dialogue and consultation.
The comments by the Foreign Ministry spokesman came in the backdrop of the continuing standoff between the militaries of India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, during a media briefing here, said that China's position on the border-related issues was clear and consistent.
"We have been following the important consensus reached by the two leaders and strictly observing the agreements between the two countries," he said, apparently referring to the directions of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their two informal summits, asking the militaries of the two countries to take more confidence-building measures.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops are said to have intruded into the Indian side of the LAC at two different locations in Leh, Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake, prompting the Indian Army to match the deployment in equal measure.
(with PTI inputs)
