China has been poking the elephant all too much. The MEA statement was rightfully strident
The dragon will continue to spew fire and speak in a forked tongue. All of India’s efforts to contain China vis-a-vis Pakistan through “informal” and “friendly summits” and engage in the practical context of economics beyond politics have yielded little result. For China again blew hot on the Union Territory status given to Ladakh and termed the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir “unlawful and void.” It went even further to claim that Ladakh now “includes” some of China’s territory in its administrative jurisdiction. Not only this, it said the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), the money laundering watchdog, had no business to blacklist nations but should help them counter terrorist funding and networks. As the statements were issued in rapid succession, China proved that Pakistan would be its all-weather friend and a potent counterweight against India. The Government understands the need for such posturing and accommodates China despite that. It doesn’t even officially comment on China’s own controversial moves and decisions and has been clarifying that the upgraded status of Ladakh didn’t automatically mean a change on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). So this constant needling was impetus enough to give a strong rejoinder to Beijing and ask it to refrain from commenting on our internal matters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has been facing heat from the Opposition for not raising with Chinese President Xi Jinping the pro-democracy protests being muzzled in Hong Kong, human rights violations in Xinjiang, continued oppression in Tibet and Beijing’s shenanigans in South China Sea. So this response showed that we have a backbone at least and won’t allow walkovers.
It is surprising that China, which till now had been more nuanced, resorted to provocation so soon after the Modi-Xi summit. India must raise China’s occupation of about 38,000 sq km of Aksai Chin and 5,800 sq km in Shaksgam Valley of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and question vehemently its claims over large parts of Arunachal Pradesh. China approached the Security Council despite violating its principles. It violated the status quo by annexing a part of Kashmir in 1963, building the Karakoram highway through what it calls “disputed” territory for its convenience and more recently the corridor project in PoK. Though the bilateral relationship has been swinging from cooperative to competitive bouts, New Delhi would do well to parry Beijing’s diplomatic blows with its own strategic ones, like excluding Huawei from 5G. Our market force will neutralise hypocrisy.