China on Monday reiterated that it was in talks with India to resolve border standoff in Galwan valley of Ladakh through diplomatic and military channels.
“China and India are in communication with each other to resolve the situation on the ground through diplomatic and military channels. I have no information to release on that,” Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said during his regular briefing held here.
In the worst flare-up on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in more than five decades, 20 Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer of 16 Bihar, were killed on June 15 night in violent face-off with Chinese troops in the Galwan valley of Ladakh where disengagement of troops on either side was underway.
Zhao also declined to comment on Indian Minister and former Indian Army Chief Gen (r) VK Singh’s claim that more than 40 Chinese soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley clash saying, he has no information to release on the issue.
Meanwhile, according to an Indian media report, India and China are holding another round of Lt General-level talks on Monday to discuss ways to de-escalate tension between the two sides in eastern Ladakh.
The high-level talks came a week after 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in the violent clash between the two sides in the Galwan Valley.
The first round of Lt Gen-level talks were held on June 6 during which both sides decided to “disengage” in all the sensitive areas.
The disputed border covers nearly 2,200 miles of frontier that the two countries call the Line of Actual Control.
Though skirmishes are not new along the frontier, the standoff at Galwan Valley, where India is building a strategic road connecting the region to an airstrip close to China, has escalated in recent weeks. India and China fought a border war in 1962 that also spilled into Ladakh. The two countries have been trying to settle their border dispute since the early 1990s without success.
Meanwhile, Hu Xijing, editor-in-chief of Global Times, said China does not want to escalate conflicts with India, but we have sufficient capacity to smash any provocations from the Indian troops. It’s hoped that Indian troops can remain sober and Indian elites keep rational. It’s in the India’s interests to work with China to put the border disputes under control.
According to the Indian media reports, India gave “complete freedom of action” to commanders deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to “handle situations at the tactical level.” Moreover, the commanders would no longer be bound by restrictions on the use of firearms in “extraordinary situations.”
If this is proved to be true, the latest development seriously violates the agreement on confidence building measures in the military field along the LAC in the China-India border areas.
Although border faceoff occasionally erupt between China and India, the troops of the two countries have not opened fire on each other for decades. If Indian soldiers use firearms against the Chinese soldiers in the future, there will be a different picture in the border areas.
“I must warn Indian nationalists: If your soldiers cannot even defeat Chinese soldiers in unarmed clashes, then guns and other firearms will not help them. The reason: The military strength of China is much more advanced and stronger than that of India,” he opined.
Some Indians arrogantly believe that the modernization of Indian troops will allow them to defeat the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and take revenge on China for India’s defeat in the 1962 border war.
I would love to tell them that there was not much difference between China and India in terms of economic strength in 1962, but today, China’s GDP is about five times that of India and China’s military expenditure is over three times that of India according to Western estimates.
If India escalates the border dispute with China into skirmishes or even local wars, it would be like an egg dashing itself against a rock.
