The standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh does not seem to end very soon. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday, December 12 called the situation "very disturbing" and said that India's patience is being tested.
He made the statement while speaking at the annual general meeting of the industry body FICCI.
Jaishankar however, said that the country is ready to meet the security challenges posed by its neighbours at the Line of Actual Control.
He further said that the standoff situation created by China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh was not in its favour and that China was losing all the goodwill it had earned in recent decades.
"I also believe that what has happened is not actually in the interest of China. Because what it has done is -- it has significantly impacted public sentiment (in India). Professionally, I have seen the evolution of how the Indian public feels about China over the last many decades and I am old enough to remember much more difficult days, especially in my childhood and in my teens," Jaishankar said at the annual general meeting of the industry body FICCI.
Speaking further on the matter Jaishankar said that the "other party" has not abided by agreements on respecting the LAC which has caused some 'basic concerns'.
India and China are in a standoff at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh since April. Several rounds of diplomatic and military talks have not yielded results in scaling down tensions. In fact, both the countries have made heavy deployment of troops along the LAC in Ladakh, the main friction point. Both the armies taking on the extreme winter chill of the region but are not ready to budge from their stands.
