India-China border face-off exposes China's two-facedness
The Wuhan virus has brought the world down to its knees while China wants to use this pandemic to rule the world. From the South China Sea to Himalayas in Ladakh, China is trying to grab territory in the middle of a pandemic.
While insisting that it does not want a war but shows open disregard for international rules. China repeatedly expresses faith in dialogue but its army does not walk the talk but insteadkeep building up military presence at the border. The India-China border face-off is one such example of China's two-facedness.
The PLA's intrusion in Ladakh is the not work of fiction and theborder tussle is no ordinary standoff. China's troops have not moved back despite their ambassador's talk of dance and dialogue..
The Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held acrucial meeting with Chief-of-Defence-Staff Bipin Rawat earlier today. The three service chiefs were also present during the meeting. The focus, of course, was India-China border standoff.There has been some movement at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The PLA has been carrying out large scale military manoeuvres despite the two sides holding marathon talks for the last three days.
On June 5 the two sides held a virtual meeting. East Asia joint secretary Naveen Srivastava from India and Wu Jiang-Hao, Director General of Asian Affairsat the Chinese foreign ministry.
The two sides agreed to handle differences through peaceful discussion keeping in mind each other's sensitivities, concerns, and aspirations.
These are promises which the Chinese especially their state media are definitely not keeping. The Global Times says that Indian nationalists are desperately trying to smear and defame China. It says India's strategic and policy-making circles are in the hands of a small group who 'Hold negative views towards china' and that the ongoing standoff could continue before concrete resolutions are made.
This rhetoric has been on despite high-level military talks between the two sides. A meeting between the representatives of the Indian Army and the PLA was held in the Chushul-Moldo region on June 6. According to MEA, it took place ''cordial and positive atmosphere''. Both sides agreed to peacefully resolve the situation as per bilateral agreements.
They agreed that 'peace' and 'tranquillity' was essential for the overall development of bilateral relations. They promised to continue military and diplomatic engagements to resolve the situation.
This is largely a message of intent to diffuse tensions through diplomacy and dialogue but there are no specifics about what was really discussed. This meeting came on the back of at least 10 rounds of negotiations at the local level.
Negotiations with no concrete outcome. This one was supposed to be different. It was meant to settle the issue, at least temporarily, if not fully resolved.
To that extent, it seems to have fallen short as there is no sign of de-escalation from China's side. In fact, PLA's show of strength has only grown. The Chinese Army carried out massive manoeuvers featuring thousands of paratroopers in the north-west region. The Chinese state media has been trying to intimidate India with videos and editorials.
The aim should be to ease out tensions through diplomacy but given the threats and bluster, India's approach in dealing with the dragon needs to be firm.