China not approaching border talks with India seriously, says Washington
India China
China is neither approaching the border talks with India seriously nor with a sense of goodwill, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu said in a recent interview with PTI. Reflecting on the border tension between the two neighbouring countries that has been ongoing for the last few years, Lu said Beijing was not taking a constructive position.
"We see little evidence that the Chinese government is seriously approaching these talks with a sense of goodwill. What we see is the opposite. We see provocations that happen on the line of actual control on a pretty regular basis," he was quoted as saying by the news agency.
The US leader added that India could count on USA's support as it engaged with China, adding that the dispute could only be solved through "a negotiated settlement and through direct conversations between the two countries".
Lu's statement comes a day after a top US commander said Washington was providing assistance to India to counter China in the border areas and also develop a defence industrial base.
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US providing assistance to India
Admiral John Christopher Aquilino, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command during a hearing on Indo-Pacific National Security Challenges conducted by the House Armed Services Committee said Washington and New Delhi faced the same security challenge from Beijing in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.
“We value our partnership with India, and we've been increasing it and doing a lot more, over time. They have the same security challenge, primary security challenger that we do, and it's real on their northern border. Two skirmishes now in over the past nine or 10 months on that border, as they continue to get pressurised by the PRC for border gains," said Aquilino.
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The admiral noted that the US had assisted India in the form of supplying cold weather gear and other capabilities that they might need to defend the border areas.
"Additionally, we’re expanding our cooperation in the form of production as India tries to work to develop its own industrial base. So, C-130 critical components made in India, helicopter critical frameworks made in India. That is expanding the partnership and moving them towards self-sufficiency and increased partnership with the United States."
Over the last few months, there has been an uptick in outreach attempts from the US on the India-China border issue. Media reports in the states last month claimed that the Biden administration, for the first time, provided real-time insights to Indian government.
The details helped India neutralise the incursion attempts by the PLA troops in Northeastern India's Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang Sector.
(With inputs from agencies)
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