India and China do not need outside help in resolving long-standing issues between the two countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday at a virtual meeting of RIC (Russia-India-China) foreign ministers.
Lavrov’s remark comes amid tension between India and China over clashes in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan region last week that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and 76 injured.
“I don’t think India and China need any help from outside. I don’t think they need to be helped, especially when it comes to country issues. They can solve them on their own,” Sergei Lavrov said, adding, “this means recent events”.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is on a 3-day visit to Russia to attend a grand military parade in Moscow that marks the 75th anniversary of Soviet Russia’s victory over Germany in Second World War.
It is the first time in four months that a minister has travelled abroad as the international travels were banned due to the coronavirus pandemic.
India Today had reported that Rajnath Singh is likely to raise the China Issue with the Russian Counterpart.
Tensions are high between India and China as the Government of India has given powers to the armed forces to make emergency procurements to stock up its war reserves amid tension building up on the LAC.
Air Force assets, including fighters, have been moved up to forward locations.
Navy has also been given the go-ahead to deploy its assets near the Malacca Strait and, if needed, anywhere else in the Indo-Pacific to counter Chinese action
Economic Times had reported that the government did not want to leave anything to chance at this stage, especially after the violence in Galwan which left atleast 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Prime Minster of India Narendra Modi has said that the ‘sacrifices of soldiers’ along the border with China will not go in vain. India wants peace but is capable of giving befitting reply, if instigated, he said.
The external affairs ministry has said the escalation in Galwan Valley of Ladakh happened “as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there”.
China has accused India of crossing the border and attacking Chinese personnel, and called on India to “not take unilateral actions or stir up trouble.”
The armies of India and China are locked in a tense standoff at three points in eastern Ladakh, wherein China has reportedly occupied 60 sq. kilometres of territory claimed by India.
A Chinese diplomat reacting to the standoff in Ladakh has said that the move is linked to the Indian government’s unilateral decision to scrap Article 370 in August last year.
The move changed the laws that prohibited Indians from buying land in Kashmir, and made the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir defunct, triggering fears of demographic change in the Muslim majority region of Kashmir.
When India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5 last year, the Chinese foreign ministry had issued two statements criticising the development, including one that focused on the splitting of the state into union territories.
This statement, while urging India to be “cautious” on the border issue and to avoid “actions that further complicate the border issue”, said: “China has always opposed India’s inclusion of Chinese territory in India’s administrative jurisdiction in the western part of the Sino-Indian border.” This was a reference to the area in Ladakh that New Delhi claims but is controlled by Beijing.
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