Not easy to come to any settlement, says Navy Vice Chief on Sino-India talks

PTI New Delhi: Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan on Tuesday said the naval force was happy to learn about India and China reaching an agreement on patrolling along the LAC in eastern Ladakh as he underlined that in national security issues, it is “not easy” to come to any kind of a settlement. He said this during a media interaction held at Kota House ahead of the third edition of Navy’s flagship seminar Swavlamban. His remarks came a day after India announced that it has reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

“In national security issues, it is not easy to come to any kind of a settlement. It’s not easy, because there are views, there are perceptions, there are emotive issues. There are land issues and there are national security considerations. So, at one time you address several elements of national consciousness. You go and talk, negotiate,” Vice Admiral Swaminathan said. “So, if you come to any kind of settlement, I don’t know what the details are, and I don’t even need to know it, but I... know there is some kind of settlement, and all of us are happy,” he added.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday said the agreement was finalised following negotiations by the two sides over the last several weeks and that it will lead to a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said Indian and Chinese soldiers will be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began and the disengagement process with China has been completed.