China has not occupied any Indian land, claims S Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar claimed on Friday that China has not occupied any of India’s land, but said that the situation along the Line of Actual Control remains “competitive, sensitive and challenging”, The Indian Express reported.

The Line of Actual Control is the de facto demarcation between Indian and Chinese-held territory.

Jaishankar, during a press meet in Pune, said that India and China earlier never had troops on the Line of Actual Control, and both armies deployed forces away from it on their respective sides.

The minister said that China had brought its troops forward in some locations along the Line of Actual Control in 2020. “In response, we also advanced our units and a standoff ensued,” he said. “After that, the two armies continue to battle for supremacy… But there is no encroachment.”

The minister added: “China has tried to bring its troops to the upper part of the mountainous areas along the LAC [Line of Actual Control] but the Indian Army also responded to it in the same manner.”

However, in January last year, a senior police officer posted in Leh said in a research paper that India has lost access to 26 out of 65 patrolling points in the eastern Ladakh region.

Leh Senior Superintendent of Police PD Nitya had said that Indian security forces were...

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