China has not given any reason for intrusion: Khurshid

Bejing: China has not yet given any reason for the recent intrusion in Ladakh, an episode that has cast a shadow on bilateral ties, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday.

The three-week stand-off figured prominently in talks between Khurshid and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi with both expressing satisfaction on its resolution while skirting a detailed discussion on why the Chinese troops intruded 19 kms into Indian territory in Daulat Beig Oldi (DBO) sector.

Asked whether there was any degree of clarity on why Chinese troops intruded, Khurshid said "Frankly, I did not even look for it. We are not ready with our own analysis. How we responded is clear to us. It is not clear why it happened. They were not offering that background and we were not asking for it at this stage".

He said what is more important is that not only were "we able to address it with satisfaction on both sides but also learn from them as to how we can ensure it does not happen and if they, how we can address".

To a question on whether China admitted to provocation, Khurshid said, "You cannot expect any country to say we provoked. It happened in remote area. To get the message to government it is a long haul. It will take little time to analyse".

The Minister said it was not helpful at this stage to actually "apportion blame between them and us".

"Certainly that episode has cast shadow on all this...it would have been a setback. So we are very glad that it was resolved in a sensible way...Going into details of hair splitting... on you took one step they took one step...

"I think we explained very clearly status quo as it existed before April 15...That is what our objective was. We achieved it," he said.

On whether Chinese has given any assurance, he said "I don't think it is fair to ask for assurances. Will it be in writing, that means it is in the form of agreement. We already have agreements to address this kind of issues".

"There are already protocols. If there is something we have to take away from it, it is learning experience. Do we need to improve our own system or do we need to improve our arrangements with them? I am sure they would do similar analysis..." he said.

Ahead of their meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters that China hopes to use existing mechanisms to carry out discussions with India over border issues.