Published 10:27 IST, September 6th 2020
Chinese mouthpiece provokes within 24 hours of China-Rajnath meeting; Swamy lashes out
Global Times claimed that China's national & military strength was 'much stronger' than India's adding that if it boils down to a 'war', India was bound to lose
Senior BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy on Sunday slammed Chinese mouthpiece Global Times for stoking tensions between the two countries, hours after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with his Chinese counterpart in Moscow. In an editorial Saturday, China's state-affiliated media Global Times claimed that China's national and military strength was 'much stronger' than India's adding that if it boils down to a 'war' based on the combat capabilities of two countries, India was bound to lose.
“We must remind the Indian side that China’s national strength, including its military strength, is much stronger than India’s. Although China and India are both great powers, when it comes to the ultimate competition of combat capability, the Indian side will lose. If a border war starts, India will have no chance of winning," said the Global Times article.
The article also claimed that Indian troops were 'kidnapped' by nationalism and that India's policies were dictated by nationalism and public opinion. “Indian public opinion is too deeply and widely involved in border issues. The Indian troop has been obviously kidnapped by domestic nationalism,” Global Times said.
Calling talks between India and China 'fruitless', the Rajya Sabha MP also suggested External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar call off his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, due next week. Swamy added that the countries would not make headway since India wanted China to vacate its territory, which the Communist country did not agree on since it refused to recognize the region as Indian territory.
Rajnath Singh meets counterpart in Moscow
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday called for the restoration of status quo ante at all friction points in eastern Ladakh during the sidelines of a key Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet with his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe in Moscow. This was the first highest-level face-to-face meeting between the two sides since the violent face-off erupted at the LAC in June. The two and a half-hour-long talk that began around 9:30 pm (IST) at a prominent hotel in Moscow was focused on ways to resolve the prolonged border standoff in Ladakh. Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and Indian Ambassador to Russia DB Venkatesh Varma were part of the Indian delegation at the talks held after repeated requests from Gen. Wei.
Indian Army pre-empts Chinese attack
On August 31, the Indian Army said that the Chinese side carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo on Aug 29-30. "Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the Southern Bank of Pangong Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on the ground," the official statement by the Defence Ministry said. Moreover, the Army has confirmed that there has been no physical clash between Indian and Chinese troops near the southern bank of Pangong Tso in Eastern Ladakh, after which a Brigade Commander level Flag Meeting was held at Chushul.
Updated 10:27 IST, September 6th 2020