Border agreement key to better ties with China: Doval

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday said the settlement of the border issue is critical for India-China ties. Speaking at the annual KF Rustamji lecture of the Border Security Force (BSF), Doval, who leads the Indian side at the talks with China, called for a larger plan to resolve all ticklish matters with India’s northern neighbour.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday said the settlement of the border issue is critical for India-China ties. Speaking at the annual KF Rustamji lecture of the Border Security Force (BSF), Doval, who leads the Indian side at the talks with China, called for a larger plan to resolve all ticklish matters with India’s northern neighbour.

A week after PM Narendra Modi visited China, Doval said while India’s relations with China are looking up, there was a need to remain at a “very, very high alert”.

He was speaking on the topic Challenges of Securing India’s Borders; Strategising the Response. “...we might have to see China border in a different way once the boundary is settled,” he said. The event was organised to mark the birth anniversary of KF Rustamji — BSF’s first chief.

Doval said all progress made in the relationship with China gets centred on the issue of border settlement. “We are particularly concerned about the Eastern sector where the claims have been made on Tawang (in Arunachal Pradesh) which is totally in contravention of accepted principles,” he said.

On Pakistan, he said it was an area where the country was facing issues like terrorism, drugs, counterfeit currency and “you name and you have it”. On Pakistan’s strategy on Kashmir, he said, “They (Pakistan) neither have any support nor any locus standi.”