(TibetanReview.net, Nov29’21) – As human rights campaigners as well as lawmakers from a number of democratic countries in the West continue their call for sporting or otherwise diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, India has expressed its support for the host in a joint communiqué with Russia and China on Nov 26. China has cited this as a victory in its stand on the border dispute with India.
The joint communiqué has drawn wide attention, said China’s official globaltimes.cn Nov 28, which featured it as the No. 1 “Most Viewed” item on its website as of this morning.
The occasion was the 18th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of these three countries held via video link.
India has in recent times been insisting that good neighbourliness was essential for normalizing relations between the two countries, while China’s position has been that the border situation need not affect overall bilateral ties.
Now the globaltimes.cn report said that the joint communiqué “fully demonstrates that although border disputes between China and India continue to exist, they are not the whole of the bilateral relations.”
Apart from the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the joint communiqué called for common approach towards addressing various aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the three countries “agreed that cooperation between China, Russia and India will contribute not only to their own growth but also to global peace, security, stability and development.” Furthermore, they called for “immediate and unhindered humanitarian assistance to be provided to Afghanistan.”
The report drew comfort from the fact that India’s behaviour toward the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games embodied that New Delhi retained its strong diplomatic and strategic autonomy. “Despite its close ties with the US, India does not mean that it inclines to the US over all regional and international affairs. New Delhi is simply not a “natural ally” of Washington, the report said.
The report noted that the US and some of its allies such as the UK and Australia were considering a “diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. It said New Delhi in recent years was moving closer toward Washington in terms of geopolitics, and was hostile toward Beijing over some issues. Against this backdrop, India’s support for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games has surprised some netizens at home and abroad, the report added.
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Meanwhile, globaltimes.cn also report Nov 28 that the Y-20 large transport aircraft of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force had recently delivered hundreds of thousands of items of newly developed cold-resistant clothing and equipment, which were revealed only a few days ago, to Chinese border defense troops stationed in the plateau regions to brave the winter amid the border standoff with India.
The report cited Chinese experts as saying the aircraft could also transport heavy equipment like tanks and helicopters to the frontlines in rapid-reaction operations when necessary.
Three Y-20 planes carrying about 160,000 sets of newly developed cold-resistant clothing and equipment took off from an airfield in the south of East China’s Jiangsu Province, and arrived in Ngari prefecture, Southwest China’s Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region and Kashi prefecture, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region respectively after about seven hours, so the border defense troops could receive the winter gear as fast as possible, the report boasted.
The rapid-reaction mission featured challenges like takeoff and landing in high-altitude airfields and long-range flight in late mid-night, Li Lingchao, deputy chief of staff at the PLA Air Force Aviation Force regiment that carried out the mission, was quoted as saying.
“As a vital part in the strategic aerial transport forces, we have this capability and confidence to conduct missions and win fights at any time,” Li has said.
