While India has publicly rejected any scope for external interference inits ongoing border dispute with China, it has been ramping up cooperationwith the US and its Asian allies at the same time. In May, India denied aclaim by US President Donald Trump, who said Prime Minister Narendra Modiwasn’t in a good mood due to the border situation.
The deadly clashes between troops from the Indian Army and the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) in the disputed Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh thisyear had been “planned” by the Chinese government, a new report by a USpanel has alleged.
The recently released annual report of the United States-China Economic andSecurity Review Commission (USCC) has also stated that Beijing hadconsidered the “possibility for fatalities” in the hand-to-hand combat. Aclash between Indian and Chinese troops in the remote Galwan Valley regionon the intervening night of 15 and 16 June left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Chinese Govt ‘planned’ Galwan Valley clash with India: US Panellink
China has so far refused to divulge if it suffered casualties in the borderflare-up, the deadliest between the two Asian neighbours since the 1962border war.
The US panel report also draws on remarks by Chinese Defence MinisterGeneral Wei Fenghe in the lead-up to the clashes to allege that theincident could have been in the making for some time.
“For instance, several weeks prior to the clash Defense Minister Wei madehis statement encouraging Beijing to ‘use fighting to promote stability’”,states the USCC report.
“Just over two weeks before the incident, in another potential indicationof Chinese leaders signaling their intent to escalate tensions, aneditorial in China’s state-owned tabloid Global Times warned that Indiawould suffer a ‘devastating blow’ to its trade and economic ties with Chinaif it got involved in the US-China rivalry”, the report documents.
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Dwelling on the possible motives behind China’s actions along the Indianborder, the USCC reckons “if China’s goal from its actions was to acquireterritory… [the Chinese government] might deem the moves a success”.
“If Beijing intended to dissuade India from building infrastructure on itsside of the LAC or warn it against aligning with the United States,however, then the Chinese moves have been ineffective, if notcounterproductive”, it notes.
The USCC was formed in 2000 to “monitor, investigate, and report toCongress on the US and China”, the government panel’s website says.
The report’s findings also point towards China’s growing “militarypresence” in the South Asia region, highlighting the PLA’s engagements withPakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
“The PLA has also made itself highly visible in South Asia in recent yearsthrough activities and projects that build influence over local civilianand military leaders”, it states.
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“Although between 2002 and 2020 senior PLA officials met most frequentlywith their Pakistani counterparts—a sign of that bilateral relationship’skey importance—they also regularly interacted with defense officials fromIndia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka”, says the US panel report.
The USCC has also noted that the PLA was ramping up contacts with forcesfrom other South Asian countries by providing “military education” toofficers from the region.
The new report comes amid a months-long military standoff between the PLAand the Indian Army in the eastern Ladakh region along the disputed Line ofActual Control (LAC) border. Several rounds of military commander-leveltalks between the two countries as well as diplomatic and politicalengagements have failed to find a solution to the border impasse. – Sputnik