New Delhi: China has “lodged solemn representations” with India and urged New Delhi not to “complicate” the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by “crossing the border or taking any unilateral action”, Beijing said.
China’s statement came after the Army confirmed the killing of three Indian soldiers in a “violent face-off” with Chinese troops late Monday amid the “de-escalation” process. There was no immediate official comment from the Ministry of External Affairs even as Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and the three Service chiefs held an emergency meeting to deescalate the situation and diffuse the rising tensions.
The three Indian soldiers killed clash included the commanding officer of the unit posted in the Galwan river valley. The Army said there were casualties “on both sides”.
“Indian troops on Monday seriously violated the consensus of the two sides by illegally crossing the border twice and carrying out provocative attacks on Chinese soldiers, resulting in serious physical clashes,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was quoted as saying by Global Times.
China and Indian side agreed to resolve the bilateral issues through dialogue to ease the border situation and maintain peace and tranquility in border areas: Chinese FM https://t.co/2cuo0TEpzd
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 16, 2020
The Chinese government-backed English daily reported that Beijing has “lodged solemn representations with the Indian side and urged it to strictly restrain its frontline troops from crossing the border or taking any unilateral action that may complicate the border situation”.
In his statement, Wang said, “China and Indian side agreed to resolve the bilateral issues through dialogue to ease the border situation and maintain peace and tranquility in border areas.”
Later, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said he didn’t have information on the “violent face-off” that led to the killing of the three Indian soldiers. He, however, said two Indian soldiers had illegally crossed into Chinese territory twice on 15 June in a “serious violation” of the consensus reached earlier between the two countries.
“They provoked and attacked the Chinese side, leading to a severe physical brawl. China has lodged protests and representations to the Indian side,” Zhao said. “China demands the Indian side restrict front line soldiers and avoid unilateral moves that will complicate the border situation.”
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What happened earlier
Earlier in the day, ThePrint reported how both sides are actively working towards bringing temperatures down even as the border standoff continues in eastern Ladakh.
New Delhi and Beijing are believed to have established “regular” contact between the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China through diplomatic channels, the report said.
India, Russia and China are scheduled to hold a trilateral dialogue on 23 June. This was supposed to take place in March.
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The way print convey the news is like global times – mouth piece of China. At least show the Indian side of the story too to counter balance the narration of story of China.
It was true after all ,the accusation that it’s a leftist media.
It is obvious that China is hitting at us for siding with anti China countries. We should have expected this to happen and been prepared for it.
The sad part is that our CDS has talked about fighting a 2 1/2 front war but failed to monitor the situation regularly as per the norm. There is s a standard operating procedure (SOP) where our troops patrol the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and ensure it is not violated. This year they did not do it while monitoring it at all levels from the actual ground to the Armed Forces HQ failed. The reason seems to be preoccupation with other political matters.
Our Army has been used to lay yoga mats on World Yoga Day,, cleaning up the Yamuna bank in Delhi and building a floating platform for Sri Sri Sri to hold his convention for which he did not want to pay till the SC ordered him to do so and many other such duties. These are always at the cost of preparedness of their role. Our CDS was more involved in opening up cantonments, building railway bridges in Mumbai, declaring that the Forces can do with 70% effectiveness of the projected weapon systems, wanting to induct officers and soldiers for just 3 years duty (Tour of Duty) and releasing them (stating that Anand Mahndra loved the proposal because they would be an asset for the corporate world to employ them).
The Armed Forces Chiefs now report to the National Security Advisor and not the Raksha Mantri breaking a well established norm. The CDS seems to be more keen on experimenting with established systems and appeasing his political masters than carrying out the time tested role and duties.
What role does the Raksha Mantri have now? We rarely hear from him.
Are we going to have a repeat of 1962?
Modi’s policy on all fronts appears to be in tatters. He needs to do a swift course correction or go down in history as a failure.
The Indian economy was in the doldrums before the Coronavirus, thanks to Arun Jaitley’s mismanagement. Then came the Citizenship Amendment Bill that was poorly handled. The Delhi riots was a stunning indictment on the Modi Government’s ineptitude.
The Coronavirus lockdown was badly implemented and in retrospect a failure.
The Chinese have now occupied 25 square miles or 60 square kilometers of strategic Indian territory. Three Indian soldiers were killed yesterday. China’s casualties are not known.
Modi needs to jettison his small town arrogance and insularity, and consult the experts. There is brain power in India’s retired military brass and foreign ministry officials. He should leash Amit Shah, who talks way too much. That idiot claimed that India will retake Aksai Chin (15,000 square miles) when it can not even recover 25 square miles China had just occupied last month.
India is weaker than China in the Himalayan heights. But it has the advantage in the Indian Ocean. It should flex it’s muscles there and patrol the South China Sea along with the United States, Japan and Australia.
And it should begin to restrict imports from China. If Modi can not deliver, he better get out! Course correct or just get lost!
The Print is speaking in China’s voice.
Citizens of India…. think for yourselves….. do you want that moron Rahul Gandhi handling these crises against Xi Jinping?