The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday, October 23, said India and China continue to use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues and "avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the Line of Actual Control" (LAC), while emphasising that the situation in the India-China border areas gets disturbed when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns, IANS reported from New Delhi.

Source: IANS — Border situation gets disturbed when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns: MEA (Oct 23, 2026)

"As we have noted in the past, the situation in the India-China border areas gets disturbed from time to time when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns. Both sides continue to use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the Line of Actual Control," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a regular bi-weekly media briefing in New Delhi, according to IANS. Firstpost's live coverage of the same briefing carried the same remarks.

Source: Firstpost — MEA LIVE: MEA flags Chinese patrolling deviations (Oct 23, 2026)

Jaiswal added that the two sides have also agreed to discuss ways to improve understanding of the LAC in appropriate areas for better border management, and emphasised that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations, IANS reported.

Remarks came amid row over ITBP chief's comments

The MEA remarks came as a political row erupted over Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General Shatrujeet Kapur's purported statement that the Army is successfully dealing with a "face-off (with China) in Arunachal Pradesh", IANS reported. Inshorts, summarising the government's response, also reported the MEA saying both sides are continuing military talks to resolve issues and improve border management.

Source: Inshorts — Govt responds after ITBP chief's 'face-offs with China ongoing' remark (Oct 23, 2026)

Earlier on Friday, sources had stressed that the ITBP chief's remarks were made in the context of routine operational preparedness and force deployment along the frontier and were not linked to any specific incident, IANS reported in a separate item.