Thiruvananthapuram: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday took a strong position on the Sino-India border row and asserted any unilateral attempts to change the Line of Actual Control (LAC) will not be "countenanced" by India, and insisted that the ongoing problem was a fallout of the neighbour occupying strategic areas in 1962.
The Union minister's response came while answering a query seeking India's official position with regard to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's tweet claiming there was "increasing Chinese infiltration" into Indian territory.
He also said India was globally viewed as a compassionate nation, when asked if its image has changed to intolerant.
"As to what has happened in the last two years, we have been very clear and very effective in ensuring that no attempt to change the status quo unilaterally on the Line of Actual Control will be countenanced by us," Jaishankar said at a "Meet the Press" event here.
He added efforts were on to resolve the boundary issues between the two countries through discussions involving their military commanders and diplomats.
Jaishankar said the border issues with the eastern neighbour were largely due to the Chinese occupying large parts of India, including Ladakh in 1962 — during Congress rule.
Taking a dig at Gandhi, he said, "I did not see anything particularly new in what his tweet said, because you all know that a large part of the problem we have on the boundary is because in 1962, the Chinese came and occupied large areas, including Ladakh."
"Many of these are strategic areas which obviously create challenges for our border forces," Jaishankar added.
The minister said that at the moment discussions were going on between the two sides involving military commanders and also diplomats.
"These (discussions) relate to friction points where we are very very closely deployed vis-a-vis each other and the focus is to see whether disengagement at these friction points was possible. In the last year there has been very substantial disengagement. There are still some issues...there are ongoing discussions. I have myself raised the issue with the Chinese Foreign Minister when I met him in Bali (G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting)," Jaishankar said.
"So, I think we have been very clear and very open about it. So, I really don't know what the confusion is," he added.