New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's statement in Loksabha calling out China's aggressive posture along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and blaming China for violating all border agreements has flustered China. This could be seen as China’s other dubious propaganda in the face of the border conflict with its neighbouring country India.
In response to his statement, Chinese state-affiliated media ‘Global times’ quoted its foreign ministry saying, “It is imperative that India immediately corrects its wrong practices, disengages on the ground as soon as possible, and takes concrete actions to ease the tensions along the China-India border."
Notably, it is well known that China, though it’s PLA, has engaged in actions that have heated up tensions through repeated attempts to change the status quo in eastern Ladakh since May.
The Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that China is not responsible for the recent border situation between China and India. It was India who first violated bilateral agreements, illegally crossing the borderline for provocation, unilaterally changing the status quo of the border area and fired gunshots to threaten the safety of the Chinese border troops.
Wang made the comments after Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh asserted that the border dispute with China remains unresolved for now, and blamed China for violating the border agreement with India in his speech.
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The Global Times editorial further stated quoting its Foreign ministry saying, “China hopes that India will abide by the important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, but the differences at the proper position in bilateral relations, prevent the differences from escalating into conflict and avoid actions that might escalate the situation".
Making a statement on the LAC situation in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Rajnath Singh affirmed that the Indian Armed Forces were capable of facing any challenge from China. While acknowledging that the situation at the LAC is very different both in terms of the scale of troops involve and the number of friction points, he reiterated India's commitment for a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Observing that the violent conduct of Chinese troops was a violation of all past agreements; he informed the MPs that India has done counter deployments in the area to safeguard the border.
Singh asserted that the LAC boundary issue remains unresolved due to the reluctance of China to recognize the traditional and customary alignment of the border.
He blamed China for attempting to unilaterally alter the status quo and said that both India and China agree that to maintain peace and tranquillity in the India-China border areas, it is essential for the further development of bilateral relation.
The Defence Minister said that India has told China through diplomatic channels that the "attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo were in violation of the bilateral agreements".
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Reported by: Chandrakala Choudhury
