Journalism of Courage
WITH New Delhi and Beijing sticking to their positions on the border standoff at Doklam, all attention will be on National Security Adviser Ajit Doval’s meeting with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi in Beijing. Doval will pay a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
The NSA reached Beijing on Wednesday to attend a two-day BRICS security summit starting Thursday along with representatives from Brazil, Russia and South Africa. Yang, who along with Doval is special representative of the India-China border mechanism, will host the summit.
In New Delhi, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh told Lok Sabha that India has conveyed to China that its actions in Doklam amount to a significant change in the status quo. He said it was not in consonance with bilateral understandings under the framework of the special representatives on the boundary issue since Doklam is directly relevant for determination of the tri-junction point between India, China and Bhutan.
Singh insisted that India is committed to finding an amicable resolution to the standoff. He added that India has maintained constant communication with Bhutan. Replying to a separate question, Singh noted that the travel advisory posted on the Chinese embassy website for its nationals does not provide any details explaining the reasons or circumstances for it.
In Beijing, China reiterated that no dialogue would be possible until the withdrawal of Indian troops from Doklam. It said that Foreign Minister Wang Yi had clearly laid out Beijing’s stand on the issue. “Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s authoritative statement is clear enough and needs no further interpretation,” said the ministry spokesperson, Lu Kang. Wang had said that Indian officials had “admitted” to entering Chinese territory and the simple solution was for Indian troops to “back out honestly”.
“As for any dialogue between the two sides, we have made it clear that the root cause of this incident is the illegal trespassing of the Indian border troops into China’s territory,’’ said Lu. “To resolve this issue, the Indian border troops must withdraw without further ado, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. That would be the precondition and basis for any meaningful dialogue.”
“There is a strong possibility of a bilateral meeting between the two sides, but we do not want to commit to timing so that there is elbow room for both sides,” an Indian diplomat told The Indian Express in Beijing.
Separately, state-run Chinese media, which has been unrelenting in its criticism of India’s role in heightening tensions along the border, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “active foreign policy” on trade promotion.
In an article titled, ‘News Analysis: China-India cooperation helps promote open global trade, counter protectionism’, China’s official news agency Xinhua lauded India’s “positive and open foreign economic policy”.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has implemented an active foreign policy, has reformed foreign investment policy and encourages domestic enterprises to go on the international market,” Xinhua said.
The news agency stated that India has been the “largest destination” for FDI over the last two years. “The two developing countries share common views and stands on many international affairs. For example, India has cleared its commitment to developing green economy and is a champion of the Paris Climate Agreement. Currently, the two countries focus on such financial cooperation as emergency reserve planning, green finance and currency swaps, which is greatly in the interest of open global trade and containment of protectionism,” Xinhua said.
