Rahul asks Modi govt to come clean on China tiff Bilateral mechanism exists to deal with China: Rajnath to US
Amid a tense stand-off with China in Ladhakh and
US offer of mediation, the Congress party on Friday asked the government to come clean in the matter and tell the country the actual position.
“The government’s silence about the border situation with China is fuelling massive speculation and uncertainty at a time of crisis. GOI must come clean and tell India exactly what’s happening,” former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Friday.
US President Donald Trump had on Wednesday offered to help New Delhi and Beijing resolve their
Rahul Gandhi
Amid India-China border tensions, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday evening had a telephonic conversation with US secretary of defence Dr Mark T. Esper. According to sources, the issue of India-China border standoff came up during the conversation and Mr
ongoing stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The offer had come as a surprise on a day when the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs appeared to soften its line on the stand-off, suggesting that the situation was “stable and controllable”.
Singh told Dr Esper that there are bilateral mechanism between India and China to deal with such situations. It was United States which had requested for the conversation. Defence ministry in an official statement said that the Mr Singh and Dr Esper “exchanged views on regional developments of shared security interest.”
“We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute. Thank you!,” Mr Trump tweeted. He was later quoted my media as saying, “I can tell you; I did speak to Prime Minister Modi. He is not in a good mood about what is going on with China.”
The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent faceoff on the evening of May 5.
China took an aggressive stance and deployed around 6,000 troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Sources in the government say that China wants India to stop the infrastructure projects in the border area.
India is building roads and bridges in the Ladakh region which will make it easier for soldiers posted in the area to get supplies and weaponry. A bridge being built near Daulat Beg Oldie, the last border post near the Karakoram Pass, has irked China the most.