UK PM Boris Johnson calls India-China Standoff ‘very serious, worrying’ as more troops sent to border to counter Chinese build-up
Amidst the ongoing tensions between India and China wherein India has accused China of unilaterally altering the Line of Actual Control, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called on the two nations to engage in dialogue to sort out their border dispute as he described the escalation in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh as “a very serious and worrying situation” which the United Kingdom is closely monitoring.
Johnson’s first official statement on the India-China standoff came during his weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Earlier, on June 20 United States President Donald Trump had said that he was monitoring the tense situation between the two nations. Trump also offered to mediate between India and China for the second time. “It is a very tough situation,” he said, adding that they have come to blows, and “we will see what happens. We will try and help them out.”
Meanwhile, India has decided to increase its strength along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as China continues its troop build-up on the other side. Not just the army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is also shoring up its posts with men and material.
The decision to induct more ITBP companies to support the army at all patrolling points was taken on Saturday after Lt General Paramjit Singh, the Director General Military Operations, and ITBP chief SS Deswal visited Leh.
The situation at the three flash points i.e. Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Pangong Lake remains tense.
Despite the military build-up on both sides, India and China have been holding high-level talks in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. Yesterday, China’s foreign ministry said that the two countries would “strictly abide” by the consensus reached during virtual meeting between Director General Hong Liang of the Department of Boundary and Oceanic Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the Ministry of External Affairs.
In a related development, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has praised Reliance Industries Limited’s telecom arm, Reliance Jio, as clean telecom company while slamming China’s Huawei as Chinese military-controlled corporation. The top US leader said how tides are turning against China’s Huawei and how businesses like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio are rejecting working with ‘tools of the CCP surveillance state, like Huawei.’
Of the total ten recent investments in Jio Platforms, seven US-based firms have bought over 19 per cent share in Jio for over Rs 90,000 crore. The largest of the investments in Jio Platforms have come from Facebook, which bought 9.99 per cent stake in Jio for Rs 43,574 crore.
According to RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Jio is the only network in the world that doesn’t use a single Chinese part.
Pompeo’s remarks came a few hours before an adverse Pentagon report which accuses 20 Chinese firms, including Huawei, as Chinese military-controlled corporations.