External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that India-China ties that had been “abnormal since 2020” are moving in the direction of “some improvement” following several high-level engagements, including the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit on October 23.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha regarding ‘recent developments in India’s relations with China’, EAM Jaishankar provided an extensive update on recent developments in India-China relations, particularly the border areas, highlighting the diplomatic and military measures taken to restore peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). “Our ties have been abnormal since 2020, when peace and tranquillity in the border areas were disturbed. Recent developments reflecting our continuous diplomatic engagement have set our ties in the direction of some improvement,” he said.

Jaishankar reiterated that normalcy in India-China relations depends on mutual sensitivity, respect, and interests. “India-China relations cannot be normal in the absence of peace and tranquillity in the border areas. Restoration of peace and tranquillity would be the basis for the rest of the relationship to move forward,” he said while stressing that sustained efforts at both diplomatic and military levels remain pivotal in managing the challenges along the LAC and fostering a stable bilateral relationship. The EAM spotlighted that the bilateral relationship had progressed in many domains, but was negatively affected by the recent events. “We are clear that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas is a prerequisite for the development of our ties. In the coming days, we will be discussing both de-escalation as well as effective management of our activities in the border areas. The conclusion of the disengagement phase now allows us to consider other aspects of our bilateral engagement in a calibrated manner, keeping our national security interests first and foremost. In my recent meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, we reached an understanding that the special representatives and the Foreign Secretary level mechanisms will be convening soon,” he stated.

The meeting between PM Modi and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit was the first between the two countries at delegation level in nearly five years and came close on the heels of the disengagement and patrolling agreement and the resolution of issues that had arisen in the India-China border areas in 2020. Referring to the violent clashes in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, Jaishankar recalled the gravity of the situation, which saw fatalities for the first time in 45 years. “The circumstances led to heavy weaponry being deployed in close proximity to the LAC, necessitating determined counter-deployment of adequate capability,” he stated.

He mentioned that the October 21 agreement is the latest in the series of an understanding in regard to the resolution of the situation at various friction points in eastern Ladakh in the aftermath of the events in May-June 2020 and the initial disengagement in Galwan Valley in July 2020. The EAM elaborated on China’s illegal occupation of 38,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in Siachen since the 1962 conflict and noted Pakistan’s illegal ceding of 5,180 square kilometres of Indian territory to China in 1963, which has been under its occupation since 1948. “India and China have held talks for multiple decades to resolve the boundary issue,” he said. He described the large-scale troop deployment by China along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh during April-May 2020, which resulted in multiple face-offs and disrupted patrolling activities. “It is to the credit of our armed forces that, despite logistical challenges and the then-prevailing COVID situation, they were able to counter-deploy rapidly and effectively,” he said.

In his statement, he also traced the history of India-China diplomatic engagements dating back to 1988 when a clear understanding was reached to settle the boundary issue through peaceful consultations. Agreements in 1993 and 1996 established mechanisms to maintain peace along the LAC. He noted further advancements, including the 2005 protocol on confidence-building measures and the establishment of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) in 2012. “The purpose of recalling these agreements is to underline the elaborate nature of our shared efforts to ensure peace and tranquillity and to emphasise the seriousness of the 2020 disruptions for our overall relationship,” he said.

Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s three key principles: strict respect for and observance of the LAC, no unilateral alteration of the status quo, and adherence to past agreements. He emphasised that the restoration of peace and tranquillity remains the foundation for normalising India-China ties. “The combination of a firm and principled stance on the situation in the border areas, as well as a clearly articulated approach to the totality of our ties, have been the foundation of our engagement with China for the last four years,” he added.

Updating the House on the latest developments, Jaishankar referred to the October 21 agreement on disengagement in the Depsang and Demchok areas, which was achieved after intensive negotiations. He highlighted that patrolling in traditional areas has resumed following verification of disengagement on the ground. “The problem in these two areas pertained primarily to obstructions of our long-standing patrolling activity and access by nomadic populations to traditional grazing grounds,” he said.

Jaishankar detailed several high-level engagements, including his own meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Astana and Vientiane earlier this year and again at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on November 18. National Security Advisors and Defense Ministers from both sides have also been in active dialogue. “In pursuance of these discussions, the Defence Minister met his Chinese counterpart at the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ meeting on November 20 to discuss progress on the disengagement agreement, the need for de-escalation, and the strengthening of confidence-building measures,” Jaishankar said.

–IANS

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday that the broad consensus achieved by India and China to resolve their differences is proof that continuous dialogue brings solutions.

“Development and security are often viewed from separate perspectives but are, in actuality, deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Historically, the study of key factors for economic development such as land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship has been central to economic analysis,” the Defence Minister said while delivering the keynote address at the Army’s Chanakya Defence Dialogue in New Delhi.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh added that the impact of defence and security has traditionally been underexplored. “This may be because security is often viewed as a necessary but non-economic factor. Defence spending, military infrastructure and national security can significantly affect economic growth and resource allocation, even in non-war periods or in peacetime,” the Defence Minister said.

He reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s resolve to bridge the gap between ‘development’ and ‘security’, stressing that economic development can only flourish when national security is ensured. He said that the government’s consistent efforts to attain ‘Aatmanirbharta’ have directly linked the defence sector with the nation’s development. “If defence had been recognised as an integral component of development and studied more comprehensively in the past, India might have achieved self-reliance in the sector much earlier. The prolonged dependency on imports can be attributed, in part, to the lack of a coordinated approach between defence and development. Consequently, while our defence industry missed out on critical opportunities for growth and innovation, a significant portion of our defence budget flowed into other economies, limiting our ability to strengthen our own capabilities.

Addressing this disconnect is essential for fostering a robust domestic defence industry that can contribute to national security and economic independence,” he added. Rajnath Singh underscored the need to examine the impact of the defence sector on key economic indicators, such as income generation, employment creation, regional economic balance, manufacturing growth, investment, research and development, and the expansion of the service sector. Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi brought out the crucial connection between national security and nation-building by referring to Chanakya’s ‘Saptang Theory’ to emphasise the importance of the development of effective state institutions, an operative governance mechanism, inclusive development, fostering a national identity and progressive transformation of the society as the contemporary paradigm of ‘nation building’.

He said that the Army provides a secure and safe environment for the people and contributes immensely to every facet of development and growth story, viz, economy, social cohesion, skill development, and environment sustainability, etc. On the occasion, Raksha Mantri also launched the Green Initiative 1.0 and Digitisation of Indian Army 1.0. Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, DG, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) Lt Gen Dushyant Singh and other senior serving and retired officers of the Armed Forces were present on the occasion.

–IANS

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Monday termed the India-China agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh as a “positive development” and a product of very “patient and persevering diplomacy”.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced Monday afternoon that both countries, after discussions that have taken place over past several weeks, arrived at an agreement on patrolling arrangements along the LAC leading to disengagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in the region 2020 following the violent Galwan Valley face-off in June 2020. Speaking at the NDTV World Summit immediately after Misri made the announcement, EAM Jaishankar said that the agreement creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which should be there in the border areas and existed before 2020 – something which had been India’s major concern over the past few years for the bilateral relationship to turn normal.

“At various points of time, people almost gave up. We have always maintained that on the one hand, we had to obviously do the counter deployments… But, side by side, we have been negotiating since September 2020 when I met my Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow. It has been a very patient process, maybe more complicated than what it could and should have been. The fact is that if we are able to, as we now have, reach an understanding regarding patrolling and observing the sanctity of the LAC, then, I think, it creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which there should be in border areas and existed there before 2020,” remarked Jaishankar.

Ever since the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC along the India-China border, New Delhi had made it clear that upholding peace and tranquillity on the ground has to be in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments. The EAM, however, advised to exercise caution and not go too fast on speculating immediate outcomes, insisting that the agreement has just happened and there will be discussions and meetings to plan the next steps.

“We are neighbours and have an unresolved boundary issue. They have been rising and we too have been rising. So, if two large neighbouring countries next to each other in the same time frame, it is not easy and there are very few historical parallels for that. Managing this double rise and that too in proximity will require a lot of skills, deftness and diplomacy. The truth is that our capabilities will change, our influence will change and our ambitions will change. Both of us would naturally want to be bigger, more visible and more effective in the world. How to get an equilibrium in our relationship will be one big issue, for us and them” the EAM opined.

–IANS

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Featured image credits: barandbench.com

Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India and the founder of the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) Colin Gonsalves has filed a petition to stop the widening of roads that connect the Char Dham in Uttarakhand as it will cause adverse impact in the hilly region resulting from the felling of trees.

The Char Dham road network also reaches the Indo-China border and is used by the Indian army.

Supporting Gonsalves’ stand is an alleged NGO called “Citizens For Green Doon”. They are represented by lawyers Coulin Gonzales and Mohammad Aftab, who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court to stop the construction of roads on the Indo-China border in Uttarakhand, citing the environmentl impact.

Instead, they have asked that the “Indian Forces can use air route in war”.

https://twitter.com/MeghBulletin/status/1458329407827763201?s=20

The three-judge bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath heard the petition on behalf of the NGO Citizens for Green Doon. Gonsalves argued against the stand of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), stating that such developments would lead to massive landslides wherever roads are widened.

Appearing for the government, Attorney General K K Venugopal said, “In the 1962 war, our troops were without supplies and had to undertake arduous treks to reach the border outposts. We know what happened. Given the situation at the border and the new legislation passed by the Chinese government to override claims of neighbouring countries on disputes over border lands, there is an urgent need to build infrastructure to carry heavy artillery, tanks, missile launchers and swift movement of troops.”

“The army does not want to be caught napping as it was in 1962,” Venugopal said, adding that the border roads – from Badrinath to Mana pass, from Gangotri to Muningla pass, and Pithoragarh to Lipulekh pass – have been widened for movement of army trucks. “But, the widening of border roads are meaningless if the feeder roads are not widened,” he said.

After both parties completed their summation and argument, the Supreme Court bench observed that it cannot turn a blind eye to the troop build-up and shoring up of infrastructure by China at India’s border but ruled that the environment will always trump national security to brush aside the Centre’s plea for widening of the strategic feeder roads linking defence facilities along the Indo-China border.

In the inconclusive hearing, Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath said, “There is no doubt that sustainable development has to be balanced with national security requirements. Can the highest constitutional court override the concerns of armed forces, particularly given the contemporary developments at the Indo-China border?”

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The tenth round of military talks between India and China, regarding troop disengagement at the border, lasted for around 16 hours from Saturday morning till after midnight on Sunday. Talks at the Corps Commander-level took place at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control. The dialogue began at around 10 AM on Saturday and ended at 2 AM on Sunday, according to reports.

The focus of the talks was to take the disengagement process ahead in other friction points like Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh. India has reportedly insisted on a faster disengagement process.

The current talks are in continuation with the earlier bilateral military dialogue held to resolve the situation in Ladakh. This round of talks took place two days after the Indian and Chinese military concluded the disengagement of troops and weapons from north and south banks of Pangong Tso lake after a nearly nine month long military stand-off.

India has maintained all along that disengagement at all the friction points on the India-China border was necessary to de-escalate tensions in the region.

On February 11, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Parliament that India and China reached an agreement on disengagement in the North and South banks of Pangong lake that mandates both sides to “cease” forward deployment of troops in a “phased, coordinated and verifiable” manner.

Under the agreement, he said, China will pull back its troops to east of Finger 8 areas in the northern bank of Pangong lake while the Indian personnel will be based at their permanent base at Dhan Singh Thapa Post near Finger 3 in the region. Similar action would take place on the south bank of the lake as well, he added.

In the earlier nine rounds of military talks, India had specifically insisted that Chinese troops retreat from Finger 4 to Finger 8 on the North bank of Pangong Lake. The mountain spurs in the area are referred to as ‘Fingers’.

According to reports, troops on both sides have withdrawn to positions in line with the agreement.

China recently revealed the names of its soldiers who died in the violent June 2020 Galwan Valley clash as a face-saving measure and to stoke nationalist feelings among its people.

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China has for the first time revealed that four of its troops died during the violent border clash with Indian troops in the Himalayas in June 2020, as both sides completed the disengagement at the Pangong lake.

The men died after fighting “foreign troops” who “crossed into the Chinese border”, said Chinese state-controlled media.

The bloody skirmish, which took place in the Galwan Valley in India’s Ladakh region, involved Indian and Chinese soldiers reportedly fighting one another with stones and nail-studded clubs.

It was admittedly the deadliest clash along the India-China border area in 45 years, after the major border clash in 1967.

Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations, Central Military Commission announced Friday. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with honorary title. pic.twitter.com/Io9Wk3pXaU

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 19, 2021

Previously, India had said that 20 of its soldiers were killed in last year’s clash, while Beijing acknowledged casualties but did not disclose any further details. Indian intercepts had put the number of Chinese casualties at 43 that includes dead and injured.

On Friday, China’s military news outlet PLA Daily named the “heroic” Chinese soldiers who gave their “youth, blood and even life” – Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran. They were all given posthumous awards.

Wang had died after drowning in icy waters while crossing a river to reach his army mates, said the report. Meanwhile, another man, regimental commander Qi Fabao, was also given honours after sustaining “serious injuries”.

There was another violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers at Nathu La in January this year. 20 Chinese soldiers were reportedly injured in the clash, while 4 on the Indian side sustained injuries.

Chinese state-run media had announced on February 10 that both sides had begun disengagement at the Pangong Lake. The disengagement in that area is now complete after troops moved out from both the banks of Pangong Lake in the eastern Ladakh sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

India and China will hold the 10th round of corps commander level talks on Saturday to discuss disengagement from other friction points. The talks will be held on the Chinese side of the LAC in Moldo.

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India might, in the coming weeks, give the go-ahead to some new investment proposals from China as icy relations between the Asian behemoths are thawing due to de-escalations at the border, according to a report by Hindustan Times.

Chinese state-run media had last week announced that both Chinese and Indian troops had begun disengagement in the Pangong Tso area, situated in the Ladakh region of the western Himalayas. The disengagement was planned after a consensus was reached during the ninth round of talks at the military commander-level.

The disengagement follows a nearly nine-month-long standoff after troops from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) clashed with Indian soldiers at Galwan. Despite several rounds of disengagement talks at different levels, Chinese forces still remained in the Finger 5 area of the Pangong Tso lake.

Changes in foreign investment rules had hurt Chinese businesses

As tensions between the two nations peaked, India framed several policies targeting Chinese businesses and investments in India, such as banning dozens of Chinese apps, blocking China from participating in government tenders and compelling any Chinese company investing in India to seek approvals.

The changes brought about by the Indian government in the foreign investment rules mandate that investments from an entity in a country that shares a land border with India would require further government approval, markedly slowing investments flows from China.

This policy change had put in limbo over 150 Chinese proposals worth more than $2 billion, hurting the plans of Chinese companies in India.

One such proposal that was delayed was the acquisition of a General Motors plant in India by Chinese company Great Wall Motors.

“We’ll start giving approvals to some greenfield investment proposals, but we will only clear those sectors which are not sensitive to national security,” one of the officials said.

Earlier this year, a Chinese company was awarded a contract for a section of the Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS). The company had made the lowest bid in June last year for the project, but the contract was put on hold due to the border tensions. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) awarded the contract for a part of the Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) to the Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company Limited. This Chinese company will build 5.6 km underground stretch between New Ashok Nagar and Sahibabad.

Last month, there was another face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers at Nathu La. 20 Chinese soldiers were reportedly injured in the clash, while 4 on the Indian side sustained injuries.

Looking forward to more Chinese investment

The officials said that the ongoing discussions regarding the matter are private and did not give details of the proposals they plan to approve in the coming weeks. They added that the government will also look to clear some other brownfield projects – new investments in existing projects – that are not a risk to national security after the first round of clearance to new investments.

The government is reportedly also considering allowing some investment from Chinese firms in certain sectors via the “automatic” route, or without government scrutiny. The officials said that investments for stakes of up to 20%, in “non-sensitive” sectors, may revert to the automatic route for nations with which India shares land borders.

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The return of the 23 Indian sailors who are stranded in China has been delayed yet again. The Indian crew members of the cargo ship MV Jag Anand were supposed to arrive in Japan on 14 January. However, this has been put off to 18 January.

JUST IN : #JagAnand
MV Jag Anand's ETA at Chiba, Japan is delayed. Ship with 23 indian crew is now expected to reach Japan on 18th January 2021. pic.twitter.com/aW72yinzsl

— Prasar Bharati, Beijing (@PBSC_Beijing) January 14, 2021

Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways Mansukh Mandaviya had, on January 9, announced that the Indian mariners would return via Japan on January 14.

Our Seafarers stuck in China are coming back to India!
Ship M. V. Jag Anand, having 23 Indian crews, stuck in China, is set to sail toward Chiba,Japan to carry out crew change, will reach India on 14th January.
This could only happen due to strong leadership of @NarendraModi ji

— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) January 9, 2021

UPDATE :
The Seafarers will reach Chiba Port, Japan on 14th January and after following due procedure related to COVID protocols, they will fly back to India.

— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) January 9, 2021

The sailors were expected to reach Japan on January 14 and they were to be flown back to India, subject to the COVID-19 protocols. The sailors have been stuck in China for seven months. In December, the Indian External Affairs Ministry had said that two cargo vessels with a total of 39 Indians on board have been on anchorage in Chinese waters as they were not allowed to unload their cargo.

On January 10, India had returned a Chinese soldier who had strayed into the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control. He was apprehended near the south bank of Pangong Tso, a mountain lake along the de facto frontier. Pangong Tso lake is the site of the clashes that took place between India and China in May 2020, where soldiers exchanged blows and hurled rocks at one another along the banks of the lake.

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China has once again gone back on its word. In yet another violation of the consensus arrived through military and diplomatic engagements, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carried out provocative military movements and tried to change the status quo in the southern bank of the lake on Saturday night.

The Indian Army has said that Indian troops undertook measures to strengthen their positions and pre-empted the PLA action in the region.

The Economic Times quoting the statement given by the Indian Army spokesperson Col Aman Anand reported “On the night of 29/30 August 2020, PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo. Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the Southern Bank of Pangong Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground.”

“The Indian Army is committed to maintaining peace and tranquility through dialogue, but is also equally determined to protect its territorial integrity. A Brigadier Commander level Flag Meeting is in progress at Chushul to resolve the issues”, Col Anand was quoted saying.

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Years after the major border clash between India and China in 1967, twenty soldiers were martyred at a faceoff between both sides at Ladakh in the eastern Himalayas.

On Monday night, a small group of soldiers got into a brawl in the Galwan Valley. It is said that China brought in reinforcements, and had attacked with stones and iron rods. When the commanding officer, who was a colonel, had been gravely injured and was fallen, the Chinese had attacked by ambushing the camp with more soldiers and stones.

Both the countries are currently under de-escalation talks.

Anurag Srivastava, who is MEA’s spokesperson, said in a statement that, commanders of two sides had held talks on June 6, agreeing on a process for de-escalation. This was followed by a series of meetings on the lower levels of command to implement the consensus reached at a higher level. “While it was our expectation that this would unfold smoothly, the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley. On the late evening and night of June 15, 2020 a violent face-off happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there. Both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side,” he added.

ANI tweeted that Indian intercepts put the number of Chinese casualties at 43 that includes dead and injured. Increase in Chinese chopper activity was observed to airlift casualties.

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