After Xi assumed power in 2012, there was a significant increase in fighting, despite him meeting several times with the Indian prime minister and agreeing on confidence-building mechanisms to ease tensions
According to Reuters, Indian Prime Minister Modi said in an interview on the 10th local time that India and China should "expeditiously resolve" the protracted border issues between the two countries.
Reuters said Modi's tone on bilateral issues between China and India had softened significantly.
Modi reportedly said in an interview with the American newspaper "Newsweek": "I think we need to resolve the protracted border situation quickly so that we can put the anomalous phenomena in bilateral interactions behind us."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was interviewed by the editor of "Newsweek." Images from the "Newsweek" report.
For India, relations with China are important and of great significance. “Modi said that stable and peaceful relations between India and China are important for the entire region and the world.
According to "India Today", Modi also said, "I hope and believe that through active and constructive bilateral contacts at diplomatic and military levels, we will be able to restore and maintain peace and tranquility in our border areas."
According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on March 27, 2024, Hong Liang, director of the Border and Maritime Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Dai Guolan, joint secretary of the East Asia Department of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, co-chaired the China-India Border Affairs Consultation and Coordination Working Mechanism (WMCC) in Beijing.
Representatives from foreign affairs, defence, immigration and other departments of the two countries attended 29 meetings.
The two sides positively assessed the progress made in controlling the situation on the China-India border, exchanged sincere and in-depth views on the next stage of working ideas, and agreed to focus on local issues related to the border and reach a plan acceptable to both parties in a short time and promote the transition of the border situation towards a phase of normalized management and control.
Continue to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels, improve the negotiation and consultation mechanism, and hold a new round of talks between military commanders as soon as possible; agree to strictly abide by the spirit of the agreements and the consensus reached by both sides, avoid a repetition of the situation on the ground, continue to consolidate the results of the previous disengagement and safeguard peace at the border and tranquility in the area.
Tensions continue to persist between Beijing and India along the north-eastern border near the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh - which China considers to be part of Tibet and, therefore, part of its territory - and near the Aksai Chin region, all the western end of the Tibetan plateau. Chinese and Indian patrols regularly meet along the disputed border, and the sides often accuse each other of illegitimate incursions.
The last violent clash dates back to June 2020, when the PLA and Indian troops faced each other in the Galwan valley, located in the far western Ladakh region along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the line of actual control that since 1962 it has demarcated part of the disputed border.
The clash, which followed a series of standoffs that began in May along multiple sectors of the LAC, resulted in deaths (for the first time since 1975): at least 20 Indians and an unconfirmed number of Chinese.
The underlying cause was Beijing's opposition to New Delhi's actions aimed at strengthening the infrastructure of the border area. About 600 Indian soldiers, who were ambushed, fought with stones, iron bars and other improvised weapons.
Since 1962, China and India have been engaged in numerous long clashes this border.
After Xi assumed power in 2012, there was a significant increase in clashes, despite the fact that he met with the Indian Prime Minister several times and agreed on confidence-building mechanisms to mitigate tensions.
Before 2013, the last major conflict had occurred in 1987. The 1950s and early 1960s had been a particularly tense period, culminating in 1962 with a war that caused the death of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
The 2020 skirmish is in line with Beijing's increasingly assertive foreign policy.
The clash occurred as China was aggressively pressing other sovereignty claims in the Indo-Pacific region, such as over Taiwan and the South and East China Seas.
Several weeks before the clash, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe had called on Beijing to "use the fight to promote stability" as the country's external security had worsened. According to experts, this was a clear indication of Beijing's intention to proactively initiate military tensions with its neighbors, to whom an image of strength was thus projected.
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