The global community continues to slam China over its aggression against India on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. A bipartisan US Senate resolution has condemned the Dragon’s use of military force to change the status quo at the LAC with India.
What is also of importance is that the resolution has called for a diplomatic solution to the issue. This is a massive setback to China whose People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops are refusing to budge from their positions along LAC leading to an over month-long military stand-off with India.
The US Senate rebuke of China has come as a shot in the arm of the Indian diplomatic team which is trying to ensure that the issue of China’s expansionism along LAC figures also in the upcoming G-7 Summit. According to sources, India has launched hectic diplomatic lobbying to ensure that China is grilled in this elite group of seven top industrialized nations. Significantly, President Donald Trump has extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the summit. China’s Xi Jinping will skip the summit given the growing tensions between Beijing and Washington.
And, this will be an opportune moment for India to push its agenda, says an official working closely with the US diplomats on this summit. The date of the G-7 annual summit is yet to be fixed. However, PM Modi is learnt to have asked EAM S. Jaishankar to prepare the ground for taking up the misdeeds of China at that forum.
MEA officials believe that the US Senate resolution condemning Chinese behaviour along LAC, and similar other global developments on the same line in future will together be of a great help to India before the G-7 summit. That will help MEA prepare the ground to get China cornered on this elite forum. An atmosphere against China is building up in America, and the Senate resolution bears testimony to the same, says a diplomat.
The resolution, introduced by senators John Cornyn and Mark Warner, commended India for taking steps to secure its telecommunications infrastructure from Chinese security threats and also supported bilateral and multilateral partnerships, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), to promote a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. The QSD, also known as the Quad, is an informal strategic forum between the US, Japan, Australia and India. The diplomatic and military arrangement is widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power in the Indo-Pacific region.