India, China reject US bid to mediate
NEWDELHI/BEIJING:The Indian government on Friday doubled down on its rejection of US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate on the border standoff with China, with people familiar with development contradicting the American leader’s remarks that he had discussed the “big conflict” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
China too rejected Trump’s offer of mediation, and foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the two countries don’t need the intervention of a third party as they have existing mechanisms to resolve problems. China’s foreign and defence ministries described the situation at the border as “stable and controllable”.
The reactions from New Delhi and Beijing came hours after Trump reiterated his offer to mediate between border troops of the two countries at a briefing at the White House early on Friday (Indian time). Trump initially made the offer to mediate through a tweet on Wednesday.
Though it was turned down by India’s external affairs ministry on Thursday, he said on Friday that Modi was “not in a good mood” regarding the “big conflict” with China. The people cited above, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the last conversation between Modi and Trump had occurred before the standoff, and the discussion had centred around the US request for supply of hydroxychloroquine to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian rejected the US offer and said: “We are capable of properly resolving the issues between us through dialogue and consultation. We do not need the intervention of the third party.” Both Zhao and defence ministry spokesperson Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang described the situation at as “stable and controllable”.
Arun Singh, who served as India’s envoy to the US during 2015-16, said, “The US president is erratic and unpredictable and even Twitter is hiding his tweets. I’m sure even he wasn’t expecting a positive response from India or China. We should ignore it and move on.”