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'China border incursions due to perceptional differences'

New Delhi, Dec 4

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday accepted in the Lok Sabha that transgressions occur from both sides on the India-China border on many occasions but clarified that it happens only because of "perceptional differences" between the two countries on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

However, the minister said that "no one should be worried about the security of the country with these incidents as Indian forces are promptly manning the border and are ready to deal with any challenges."

He was responding to a query by Congress leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who raised the issue in Zero Hour, asking "why the government does not react to Chinese incursion similar to what we do with Pakistan? Why do we fear from China while Indian forces are not less strong than any country?"

"Our forces are on alert and are securing country's borders with promptness. I want to assure that our forces are also capable of handling any kind of challenges. Anyone should not have doubt on it," the Defence Minister said.

"There are perceptional differences on LAC between India and China and this has been going on for long. They (China) say that their border is at this point while India says that its border is not here but there. The root cause of these differences between the two countries is the absence of real LAC."

The minister mentioned that there are regions on India-China borders which have their own different concepts of LAC.

Because of these concepts, he said, transgressions occur on occasion. "I accept it. On many occasions, PLA (People's Liberation Army) comes in our side and our forces also go their side on some occasions. But, I assure the whole country that nobody should be doubtful about the security of the country."

The minister also accepted that confrontations also occur on some occasions between China's PLA and Indian forces but clarified that such matters are dealt by both the forces with proper "understanding" and they "avoid escalation" of such issues.

"To deal with such issues, there is a mechanism between India and China. The regional commanders of the two forces engage in personal meetings. There is a mechanism of flag meetings. There is a hotline mechanism to deal with incursion, transgression and face-off situations."

"Besides, long term issues are also resolved on diplomatic level such as through representative talks, Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) and Joint Secretary-level talks on many occasions," Singh said.

The minister said that "Indian government is fully aware about the security of the country and we do review on intermissions and take decisions accordingly. Infrastructures like roads, tunnels, railway lines and air fields are being developed on India-China border to ensure unity, security and integrity of the country."