India faces huge humiliation from key western ally over border clash with China
Shares
India’s attempt to garner international support over its border clash with China fell flat, as Europe’s powerhouse Germany has expressed only “concerns” but refused to take side in the conflict.
Germany on Friday said that the recent reports of border clashes between Chinese and Indian troops are "worrying." "Such provocations must be avoided. Disputed issues must be resolved amicably by both parties in bilateral talks," Christofer Burger, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a weekly press conference in Berlin.
However, Burger welcomed Chinese and Indian diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the border conflict. "It is positive that contacts were made immediately on both sides, which prevented the situation from escalating further," he said.
German Ambassador in New Delhi Philipp Ackermann, however, said that the Indian side should understand the European position on the issue since the Ukraine war is having a “very big impact” across the continent, in terms of energy prices, refugees and the fallout on the global rules-based order.
Chinese and Indian troops have clashed in a disputed Himalayan border region for the first time in more than two years, with reports of dozens injured.
At least 20 Indian soldiers were injured in the skirmishes on December 9 in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian army said on Tuesday.
The border clash was the most serious since June 2020, when at least 24 soldiers died in violent clashes, and came in the wake of months of major acts of disengagement by both militaries in the long-running dispute.
Indian military commanders had reportedly met their Chinese counterparts on Dec. 11 to ask the Chinese side to uphold peace.
According to an Indian army statement, both sides “immediately disengaged from the area” after the military face-off.
Indian intellectual Ashok Swain also commented on the issue saying Germany is expressing concerns on India-China border clashes but refusing to take Indian side. “Cheap oil from Russia is not that cheap, after all,” he added.
