Border dispute with India bilateral issue: China to US
Beijing slams Pompeo, says Washington’s efforts to push the Indo-Pacific policy an ‘outdated Cold War strategy’
BEIJING/NEW DELHI: China reacted sharply on Wednesday to US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s remarks targeting the Chinese government and backing India in facing challenges to its sovereignty, saying the SinoIndia boundary dispute is a bilateral matter.
Beijing also described Washington’s efforts to push the Indo-Pacific policy as an “outdated Cold War strategy” and said Pompeo’s comments during his visit to New Delhi for the India-US 2+2 dialogue had “instigated China’s relations with other countries in the region”.
China’s response came in the form of separate but similar statements made by foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin in Beijing and the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.
Pompeo told the media after the 2+2 dialogue on Tuesday that Washington will stand by New Delhi in confronting threats to India’s sovereignty. He also referred to the “pandemic that came from Wuhan” and described the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as “no friend to democracy [and] the rule of law”.
He continued the attack while addressing a news conference with his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawerdena in Colombo on Wednesday, describing China as a “predator”.
Pompeo said: “We see from bad deals, violations of sovereignty and lawlessness on land and sea that the Chinese Communist Party is a predator, and the US comes... as a friend and a partner.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular news briefing: “I want to say that the border affairs between China and India are things between the two countries. Now the situation across the border is generally stable and the two sides are resolving relevant issues through consultations and negotiations.”
Wang was responding to a question on Pompeo pushing for closer India-US ties against the backdrop of the dragging border standoff. India and China deployed tens of thousands of soldiers at friction points in eastern Ladakh in the longest and worst faceoff in decades.
Criticising and focusing on the US rather than on India, Wang said: “The Indo-Pacific strategy proposed by the US is preaching outdated Cold War mentality and... confrontation and geopolitical game.”
Beijing sees the Indo-Pacific policy as a move aimed at countering its influence in the region, critical because of sea trade routes.
Wang also criticised Pompeo’s visit to Sri Lanka. “I want to add that forcing small and medium-sized countries to pick sides is a habitual behaviour of certain US politicians,” he said.
Sri Lanka and China are friendly neighbours engaged in cooperation on the basis of “equal-footed negotiations and mutual benefit”, and this won’t be altered by “any smears or slanders by... other countries”, Wang said.
The Chinese embassy in New Delhi said in a statement there is “no space for a third party to intervene” in the boundary issue between India and China. It said Pompeo and US defence secretary Mark Esper had “repeated old lies, attacked and made allegations against China, violated the norms of international relations and basic principles of diplomacy, [and] instigated China’s relations with other countries in the region”.
The Chinese embassy stopped short of directly criticising India .The statement contended China has been “unswervingly committed to peaceful development and developed friendly cooperation with our neighbours based on mutual respect”. By “hyping up the so-called ‘China threat’”, the statement said, the US is “making pretexts for maintaining its global hegemony and containing China’s development”.
Pakistan reacts
Responding to media queries regarding reference to Pakistan in the joint statement by India and the US after the 2+2 meeting, the Pakistan foreign office said: “We take strong exception to Pakistan-related assertions made in the selective and onesided joint statement, devoid of meeting the objectivity criteria.”