We have agreed to resolve issue in just manner: China

nBEIJING: India and China have agreed to deal with the “serious matter” triggered by the violent clash between border troops in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday in a “just” manner, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday.

“Both sides (India and China have) agreed to deal with the serious matter caused by the conflict at the Valley in a just manner, jointly observe the commander level talks consensus and deescalate the tensions as soon as possible and safeguard the peace and tranquility,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said at the regular ministry briefing on Thursday.

Separately on Thursday, Hua Chunying, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry’s information department, said India must not underestimate its will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty. “India must not misjudge the current situation or underestimate China’s firm will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty.”

nNEW DELHI: Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Ramdas Athawale on Thursday called for boycotting Chinese products with the latter asking the government to consider banning them in response to the violent face-off in Ladakh that left 20 Indian soldiers dead on Monday.

Paswan, the food and consumer affairs minister, said India will crackdown on illegal imports of substandard Chinese products like diyas and furniture and insist on compliance with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) rules on products imported from China.

Athawale asked restaurants and hotels to reconsider whether they want to serve Chinese cuisine. He said Indians should not popularise Chinese food and patronise its goods and called this “a good way of disapproving China’s aggression”.

“I do not want restaurants and hotels to shut down or people to lose jobs. I only want them to reconsider serving Chinese food. They can offer other cuisines. But it is necessary to boycott China for what they have done...”

Athawale said India has played a key role in helping China become an economic giant. “We are a big market for China’s goods. We import in huge numbers but the way they have insulted our soldiers, the Indian government must consider banning Chinese products. Indian companies should step up and start manufacturing more to cut imports from China,” he said.

The comments of Paswan and Athawale, who are allies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, came as India is mulling economic measures, including limiting China’s access to its vast market, in response to the face-off.

“We want Budh [Buddha] and they want yudh [war]. We are not the India of 1962 [when the two countries went to war]. We have made progress and are capable of giving them a fitting reply. They progressed because of Budh that India gave them,” Athawale said.

He referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments saying India will not allow the soldiers’ sacrifice to go waste and added India is capable of giving a befitting reply to China.