A day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh exposed China’s disregard for mutual agreements of 1993 and 1996 with India aimed at maintaining peace along the LAC, the Dragon on Wednesday looked to be on the defensive as it offered a flimsy explanation on the pacts.
Rebuked by both the diplomatic and defence leaderships of New Delhi, Beijing sought to give an unconvincing explanation about how it has been honouring the agreements for maintaining peace along the LAC. MEA officials do not, however, buy China’s explanation on agreements. Indian diplomats believe that India’s strategy to brand China as an irresponsible country seems to be creating pressure on the Dragon. “That’s why Beijing is forced to give explanations of one kind or the other,” said an official.
Both External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are going ahead with the strategy to apprise the global community of how China is not honouring the agreements it was signatory of. EAM Jaishankar had told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow about violation of earlier pacts by the PLA troops. Jaishankar actually sent out the message to the world about China behaving irresponsibly by not abiding by the agreements with India. This is what was done by Rajnath Singh in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday when he categorically told the House of China’s disregard for the 1993 and 1996 agreements.
As a result of this strategy, China seems to have come under pressure, says an official. Illustrative of this is China’s claim saying that it has been honouring agreements signed with India and is committed to maintaining peace in border areas, a day after Rajnath Singh said Beijing is not respecting the customary alignment of the boundary.
China also tried to deflect world focus from the PLA’s misdeeds, reiterating its allegation that India has breached agreements made to maintain tranquility along the disputed boundary. What the Chinese foreign ministry is ignoring is Jaishankar’s evidence- based rebuttal to these accusations in front of Wang Yi in Moscow. Jaishankar had falsified China’s allegations that Indian forces provoked PLA troops along the LAC. He had given satellite images buttressing his views that the PLA troops actually breached the agreements between both the countries for maintaining tranquility along the LAC.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava clearly spelt out the Indian government’s position on the disengagement process earlier, saying that the LAC “must be strictly respected and observed as this is the basis for peace and tranquility in the border areas”.