China on Sunday sought to push back on remarks by a senior US official that Beijing had not taken “good faith steps” to resolve border tensions with Delhi, saying there was no third party role in resolving the military standoff on the Line of Fact. Control (LAC).
Donald Lu, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, said that China has recently made “aggressive” moves along the border in India’s northeastern states instead of taking steps to resolve the standoff in the Ladakh sector that began in May 2020. Lu he added that the US would continue to stand behind its Indian partners on this issue.
Responding to Lu’s comments, a Chinese embassy spokesman said a US State Department official “made accusations against China on [the] China-India border issue without any factual basis”. The spokesman added: “The Chinese side is firmly opposed to such actions that a third country shows pointing the finger at a bilateral issue between the other two countries from a geopolitical point of view.”
Echoing China’s claim that the situation in the LAC is “generally stable,” the spokesman said, “The border issue is a matter between China and India. Both sides have the will and ability to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation. We hope that the US could do more things to contribute to regional peace and stability.
The spokesperson further said that India and China maintain “smooth and constructive communication” on border matters through diplomatic and military channels. They also “support the transition of the situation at the border from the emergency response phase to normalized management and control”, according to the spokesperson.
Indian officials disagree with China’s characterization of the situation in the LAC. India’s army chief said on Thursday that the situation along the northern border with China was “stable and under control but unpredictable”. He also said there has been a slight increase in the number of Chinese troops across the disputed border in the eastern sector.
Lu said this in an interview during a visit to New Delhi for talks aimed at preparing the ground for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit in March.
“The United States has been clear about our policy towards India and China for a long time. We said that the border dispute between India and China should be resolved peacefully through negotiations between the two sides directly. Now, having said that, we have not seen the PRC take good faith steps to resolve this border conflict,” Lu said.
“On the contrary, we have seen aggressive Chinese moves along the Indian border, including most recently in the northeastern states of India,” he said, referring to a clash on the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 that left several soldiers on both sides injured. The skirmish occurred when Chinese troops tried to unilaterally change the status quo in the Yangtse near Tawang.
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