(TibetanReview.net, Nov02’20) – Ties between India and China have come under “severe stress” and the agreements inked by the two sides over the last few years must be respected to restore normalcy in relations, thehansindia.com Nov 2 cited India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar as saying amid the eastern Ladakh border row. However, China seeks to change the status quo in line with its rising economic and military power.
Chinese soldiers are now stated to be preventing Indian patrols from entering an area five times the size of Manhattan near the two countries’ disputed border, noted the scmp.com Nov 2.
A summer of fighting saw India lose control over about 300 square kilometres of land along the disputed mountainous terrain, the report cited Indian officials familiar with the situation as saying. And Chinese soldiers now prevent Indian patrols in the area.
Delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial lecture in New Delhi, aired on All India Radio, Jaishankar has also made it clear that any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was “unacceptable” to his country.
India has been maintaining that the agreements inked between the two countries since 1993 for management of the frontier must be respected and effectively implemented, saying peace and tranquility along the LAC is the basis for the overall development of the ties.
Rising China has been making constant moves to expand its territorial claims across both land borders and maritime horizons, bringing it in potential conflict with the established global power United States and threatening the territorial integrity of neighbouring countries.
The just-concluded key conclave of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) had finalised plans to build a fully modern military on par with the US by 2027, the PTI news agency Nov 1 cited official Chinese media reports as saying.
By the year 2027, which marks the centennial of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China will build a fully modern military, a goal that is in alignment with the national strength and will fulfil the future national defence need, state-run Global Times newspaper had quoted Chinese analysts as saying Oct 31.
