China tells US off on India

The Indo-Pacific strategy — a pet project of the Trump administration — is widely perceived to be part of Washington’s China-containment policy

TT  |   New Delhi   |   29.10.20 : After India and the US deepened its partnership at the 2+2 dialogue in an evolving dynamic hastened by the face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, the Chinese embassy on Wednesday asked Washington to stay out of the bilateral dispute over territory.

“The boundary question is a bilateral matter between China and India. The two sides have been discussing disengagement and de-escalation in the border areas through diplomatic and military channels. China and India have the wisdom and ability to handle their differences properly. There’s no space for a third party to intervene,’’ the embassy said in a statement.

While both India and China have publicly turned down offers from Washington, including President Donald Trump to mediate, India’s fast deepening engagement with the US in recent months at various levels is widely seen as a direct result of the face-off.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded in similar vein to questions about US  secretary of state Mike Pompeo and secretary of defence Mark Esper’s remarks in India including references to Chinese aggression.

“The China-India boundary issue is between China and India. The border situation is generally stable at the moment. Both sides have unimpeded channels for communication, and are properly handling matters through consultation and negotiation.’’

Without commenting specifically on India’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the embassy said: “The Indo-Pacific Strategy proposed by the US is to stir up confrontation among different groups and blocs and to stoke geopolitical competition, in a bid to maintain the dominance of the US, organise closed and exclusive ideological cliques. The difficulties and challenges facing the world could only be coped with when all people join hands and pull together.

“Peaceful development and win-win cooperation are the only right path forward.’’

The Indo-Pacific strategy — a pet project of the Trump administration — is widely perceived to be part of Washington’s China-containment policy, and India’s engagement with it is seen by experts as one of the irritants that have crept into the bilateral relationship even before the face-off along the Line of Actual Control.

Reacting to the China-specific statements made by Pompeo and Esper in New Delhi, the embassy said they violated “the norms of international relations and basic principles of diplomacy, instigated China’s relations with other countries in the region, which once again exposed their Cold War mentality and ideological bias’’.