External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar  said that it was no secret that the relationship between India and China was going through a very difficult phase. He said both the countries had border pacts going back to the 1990s which prohibited bringing massive troops into the prohibited areas but Beijing has disregarded those agreements.

“Right now it is no secret, we are going through a very difficult phase mainly because we had agreements with China going back to the 1990s, which prohibit bringing massive troops into the prohibited areas, they have disregarded that,” he said.

India and China are locked in a years-long border dispute in eastern Ladakh. The dispute escalated in 2020 after the Chinese amassed massive troops along the LAC and entered the areas claimed by India. China has been maintaining a massive presence of troops and developing infrastructure along the border.

India and China have signed several border agreements to maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC.

In an agreement signed on 7 September 1993, New Delhi and Beijing agreed to resolve the border situation through peaceful and friendly consultations. “Neither side shall use or threaten to use force against the other by any means…the two sides shall strictly respect and observe the line of actual control between the two sides. No activities of either side shall overstep the line of actual control,” the pact said.

“Each side will keep its military forces in the areas along the line of actual control to a minimum level compatible with the friendly and good neighbourly relations between the two countries. The two sides agree to reduce their military forces along the line of actual control in conformity with the requirements of the principle of mutual and equal security to ceilings to be mutually agreed,” it added.

However, Beijing disregarded this by amassing thousands of troops near LAC in April 2020.