CHINA on Monday pointed towards India’s deliberate provocation after a fresh military clash between the two countries on a disputed Himalayan border. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the Indian troops had crossed into Chinese territory and attacked, triggering fierce physical conflicts.
There is absolutely no justification for India to engage in tension with China on the issue of Galwan Valley that is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western section of the Sino-Indian border and Chinese troops have controlled the area for years. India triggered the long-drawn war to control the strategic Siachen Glacier region and is now dreaming to repeat the course in Galwan Valley. A cursory glance at the history would reveal that China never tried to raise tension with its neighbours and instead adopted a cooperative approach whereas India has a history of conflicts and mischief-mongering with all of its neighbours. It is regrettable that India has not learnt any lesson from the history despite embarrassments it met during misadventures with China ever since 1962 border war. As for the prevailing dispute, Beijing’s sincerity can be judged by the fact that it has all along been urging India to settle the dispute through non-military and diplomatic dialogue and in fact, the two sides reached an understanding to cool down the situation. However, fresh Indian attempts to gain control of the area clearly show that New Delhi adopted tactical retreat in the face of humiliation it received during physical clashes with Chinese troops but has not changed its original designs of provoking China at the instance of some foreign powers. This is evident from the fact that instead of persuading India to engage into dialogue with China to de-escalate tension, some Western countries are fanning the differences in line with their strategy of trying to contain China through India. No doubt, China has no aggressive designs against any other country and is instead focusing on progress and development but it has made it repeatedly clear that there would be no compromise on principles and legitimate territorial claims. India must understand that it would get nothing except more humiliation by maintaining tension with its great neighbour.
