China on Monday said that New Delhi and Beijing must stop “draining each other’s energies” and work together to accomplish respective economic and social goals.
Chinses Foreign Minister Wang Yi made these remarks in context of heightened hostilities between the two countries due to military standoff at the LAC in easter Ladakh.
“China India relations have encountered some setbacks in recent years which do not serve the fundamental interests of the two countries… (regarding the border issues) left over from history China has advocated managing differences… actively seeking a fair and an equitable settlement,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
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Foreign Minister Yi also dais that there are “forces” which have attempted to drive a wedge between India and China.
China and India are two countries which have a combined one-third of the global population and the interests of the countries can be achieved if we stayed independent of outside influence. This will help us grasp our “destiny and realise our goals of development and rejuvenation”, Minister Yi said.
These statements come on the back of almost two years of military standoff between the two countries which reached its boiling point in the June 2020 border clashes in the Galwan valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred.
In a sign of territorial aggression, China’s top legislative body in 2021 approved the law for the “Protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”, which has come into effect from January 1, 2022. The law is seen as a legal assertion to the Chinese territorial claims, especially with India and Bhutan with which it has territorial disputes.
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Even though the law is not particularly directed towards India, political commentators believe that India is likely to face a lot of impediments with respect to standoff resolution in Ladakh’s eastern sector as well as the settlement of decades-long territorial disputes between the two countries.
India and China conducted 14th round of inconclusive border talks in January which failed to lay out plan to disengage their respective militaries at the LAC.
