India’s foreign minister has said that the country has scaled up troop deployment along a disputed border with China to an unprecedented level.
Eko Hot Blog reports that S Jaishankar added that India wouldn’t let China “unilaterally change” the status quo at the border.
EDITOR’S PICKS
-
British Airways: Flights Leaving US Grounded Over Technical Issue
-
Met Office Forecasts 2023 Will Be Hotter Than 2022
-
Capitol Riot Committee Seeks Four Criminal Charges For Trump
His comments came days after Indian and Chinese forces clashed in a disputed area
along the border in Arunachal Pradesh state.
India said that the encounter began due to “encroachment” by Chinese troops.
China’s foreign ministry has said that according to their knowledge, the situation on the border was “generally stable” and the two sides were maintaining dialogue on the issue.
India and China share a disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile) long de facto border – called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC – which is poorly demarcated. Soldiers on either side come face to face at many points, and tensions sometimes escalate into skirmishes or clashes.
Both sides have been trying to de-escalate since a violent brawl in June 2020 in the Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region much further to the west – 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers died in the battle.
The latest flare-up – the first in more than a year – occurred on 9 December and resulted in minor injuries to a few soldiers. Both sides immediately disengaged from the area, the Indian army said.
Mr Jaishankar was answering questions about the incident while speaking at an event organised by media company India Today on Monday.
“Today, you have a deployment of the Indian Army on China border that we never had. It is done to counter Chinese aggression. The Indian Army today is deployed to counter any attempt to unilaterally change LAC,” he said.
The latest clash had led to a political uproar in India last week, with opposition parties walking out of parliament after their demand for an immediate discussion of the border situation was denied.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, has accused the government of ignoring the threat from China, and alleged that the country’s forces were “thrashing” Indian soldiers at the border.
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Mr Jaishankar said that Mr Gandhi’s words “disrespected” Indian soldiers and denied that the government was indifferent to the situation.
FURTHER READING
-
Singer Terry Hall Dies Aged 63
-
Biden Slams Rising Antisemitism
-
Iran: Leading Actress Who Supported Protests Arrested
“If we were indifferent to China, who sent the Indian Army to the border? If we were indifferent to China, why are we pressurizing China for de-escalation and disengagement today?” he said.
Source: BBC
Click here to watch video of the week:
Discover more from EkoHotBlog
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:
Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.
Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.
Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611