- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
A DAY before the 14th round of military negotiations between India and China to find a solution to their 21-month long standoff in eastern Ladakh, the United States on Tuesday (11) said it was closely watching the situation and alleged that Beijing’s behaviour has been an attempt to intimidate its neighbours.
The US, which has a rocky relationship with China over various issues, said it would continue to stand by its partners.
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Speaking at a daily press briefing at the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki said, “We continue to closely monitor the situation, and we continue to support dialogue and peaceful resolution of these border disputes.”
She said this while responding to a question on China’s “aggressive behaviour” on its border with India.
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“We’ve been pretty clear how we view Beijing’s behaviour in the region and around the world. We believe it can be destabilising. And, we’re concerned by the (People’s Republic of China)’s attempt to intimidate its neighbours,” she said.
“We’ll continue to stand with our partners on that,” she added.
Speaking on the US’s relationship with India in 2022, Psaki said that “you can expect our governments will be moving forward on a wide-ranging set of initiatives, from cooperating to fight the pandemic, scaling up action to address climate change, working bilaterally and through the Quad, expanding our cooperation and trading investments, cyber and in new and emerging technologies… and, as always, we are focused on strengthening the deep ties between our people and our shared democratic values that underpin the relationship”.
India and China are set to hold their next round of Corps Commander-level talks on the Chinese side of the Chusul-Moldo border personnel meeting point on Wednesday (12) morning.
New Delhi is hopeful that the upcoming meeting will be a constructive one. The Indian Express cited sources in the security establishment as saying on Monday (10) that “Indian side is looking forward to constructive dialogue to resolve the balance friction areas”.
Both Indian and Chinese delegations at the meeting will be led by new officers. The Indian side will be led by lieutenant general Anindya Sengupta, who last week took over as the commander of the Leh-based XIV Corps, will lead the Indian delegates on Wednesday for the first time. He was part of the 13th round of talks that were held in October.
The Chinese side will be led by major general Yang Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military district.
The 13th meeting had ended with both sides blaming each other. India had said then that it “emphasised such resolution of the remaining areas would facilitate progress in the bilateral relations” and had made “constructive suggestions for resolving the remaining areas”. However, it said “the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals”.
