Rijiju present as India, China ink security cooperation pact

NEW DELHI: India made sure that junior home minister Kiren Rijiju, an Arunachal Pradesh parliamentarian, was present on Monday at the signing of its firstever agreement on security cooperation with China. Beijing says the north-eastern state is a disputed territory.

The two sides signed the pact that seeks to strengthen assistance and information-sharing on counter-terrorism, organised crimes, drug control and human trafficking after a high-level meeting co-chaired by home minister Rajnath Singh and Zhao Kezhi, China’s minister of public security. Zhao is on a visit to India from October 21 to 25.

“Had a fruitful meeting with the State Councilor and Minister of Public Security of China, Zhao Kezhi in New Delhi today,” Singh tweeted after the two-hour meeting.

Rijiju was in attendance at the signing of the India-China Bilateral Security Cooperation, a move that is seen as a message to Beijing. He was initially not included in the Indian delegation because of objections from Beijing, a home ministry official aware of the developments said.

The home ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the matter. Rijiju could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

In November 2017, China protested against President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, asking New Delhi not to “complicate” the border dispute between the two countries. Forces of the two neighbouring nations were locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball 73-day standoff in Doklam at the IndiaBhutan-Tibet tri-junction earlier that year.

China also objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state in February 2015. Arunachal Pradesh is not recognised by China as an Indian territory, Beijing said back then, adding that it was “opposed” to the Prime Minister’s visit to the “disputed area”.

At Monday’s meeting, India also flagged its concerns about Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a banned Pakistan-based terror outfit responsible for several terror attacks in India, said another official aware of the developments. Beijing has repeatedly stalled India’s efforts to declare JeM chief Masood Azhar as a UN-designated terrorist.

The official said China assured of looking into India’s concerns.