Will be able to go back to 2020 patrolling: EAM Jaishankar on India-China pact on patrolling
New Delhi, Oct 21: Indian and Chinese troops will be able to carry out patrolling the way they used to do before the military standoff between the two sides erupted in May 2020, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday after the two sides sealed a pact to resolve the festering border row in eastern Ladakh.
Shortly after the foreign secretary announced the agreement on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, Jaishankar said the disengagement process with China has been completed.
The breakthrough in resolving the over four-year military standoff in eastern Ladakh came ahead of a likely bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan this week.
"We reached an agreement on patrolling and with that the disengagement that we have gone back to where the situation was in 2020 and we can say...with that the disengagement process with China has been completed," Jaishankar said at the NDTV summit.
"I think it is a good development; it is a positive development and I would say it is a product of very patient and very persevering diplomacy," the minister said.
The ties between the two Asian giants nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.
The two sides disengaged from a number of friction points following a series of military and diplomatic talks in the last couple of years.
However, the talks hit hurdles over the way forward in resolving the situation in Depsang and Demchok.
The external affairs minister said peace and tranquility along the border is important for the overall ties between the two countries. "We always said that if you disturb the peace and tranquillity how can the rest of the relationship go forward?"
To a question, Jaishankar indicated that India will be able to carry out patrolling in Depsang and other areas.
"So what has happened is that we reached an understanding which will allow the patrolling which you spoke about Depsang, that's not the only place," he said.
"There are other places also. The understanding to my knowledge is that we will be able to do the patrolling which we were doing in 2020 (prior to the standoff)," he said.
The external affairs minister said both sides have been holding negotiations to end the standoff since September 2020.
"On the one hand we had to obviously do the counter deployments, but side-by-side, we have been negotiating.
"We have been negotiating since September of 2020 when I met my Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow," he said.
"It has been a very patient process," Jaishankar said, adding maybe "it was more complicated than it could have and should have been".
Jaishankar said there was peace and tranquility along the LAC before 2020 and "hopefully we will be able to come back to that".
"That was our major concern because we always said that if you disturb the peace and tranquility, how do you expect the rest of the relationship to go forward."
On the difficult negotiations, Jaishankar said, "At various points of time, people almost gave up, you can say."
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
