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BEIJING, Dec. 22 (PTI) — Weeks after Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed on the Yangtze River in Arunachal Pradesh this month, President Xi Jinping began his unprecedented new five-year term, heralding the possibility that 2023 could also be a bilateral one. Another blank year in relations In 2020, relations between the two countries took a nosedive after an unfortunate incident involving the PLA in eastern Ladakh.
Hundreds of Chinese soldiers attempted to enter the Line of Actual Control (LAC) The clashes on the Indian side of the Yangtze River could overshadow any thaw in relations between the two countries, as the two countries recently managed to disengage at several points in eastern Ladakh. 16 rounds of exceptionally tough negotiations.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh issued a statement in Parliament on the December 9 incident in the Yangtze River area of Tawang District in Arunachal Pradesh, saying, “The Indian Army bravely stopped the PLA from encroaching on our territory and Forced them to withdraw to their posts. Some soldiers from both sides were injured in the skirmish.”
Although the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the situation on the China-India border was “generally stable,” Senior Colonel Long Shaohua, spokesman for the Western Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said in a statement that when the conflict broke out, his troops were on routine patrol when the Chinese side of the LAC was blocked. Indian soldiers blockade.
“Our forces’ response was professional, firm and disciplined, which helped to stabilize the situation. The two sides have been in a state of disengagement since then,” Long said.
Observers said the PLA statement underscored that the Chinese military was likely to continue its Ladakh strategy of trying to send hundreds of soldiers to patrol key locations along the 3,488-kilometer undemarcated Line of Actual Control.
It was the first major clash between Indian and Chinese troops since the bitter Galwan Valley standoff in June 2020, which marked the worst military clash between the two sides in decades.
Since then, relations between the two countries have froze, and India has made it clear that peace and tranquility along the border is a necessary condition for the full development of bilateral relations.
Since 2020, after 16 rounds of talks at the military and diplomatic level, the two sides have lifted contact between troops at multiple friction points. The last friction point is patrol point 15 in the Gogra-Hot Spring area in eastern Ladakh.
The Yangtze conflict is also politically significant because it is the first major border incident since President Xi Jinping was re-elected for an unprecedented third five-year term at the Communist Party Congress held every five years. China (CPC) October.
The assembly also reappointed Xi Jinping, 69, as chairman of China’s all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), the top commander of the People’s Liberation Army.
In Xi Jinping’s third term, China will have a new batch of officials. This includes the promotion of the new foreign minister, Wang Yi, to the top Politburo of the Communist Party, making him China’s capable diplomat.
Wang, along with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, are special representatives of the India-China border mechanism, which has been dormant in the current border standoff.
The new cabinet and officials will take over after the annual session of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, next March.
The PLA’s move on the Yangtze River, after disengaging from many points of friction, is seen as reflecting a prevalent dilemma among China’s political and military classes about how to deal with India, which has political advantages internationally.
India, which is the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, will host the heads of government of the eight member states next year.
In addition, India is preparing to host the prestigious G20 leaders’ summit. China is active in both groups.
Moreover, India’s two-year non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2021-22 term, which ends this month, has caused a stir on the international stage.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has declared India’s candidacy for the 2028-29 council.
Observers say China should reconsider its policy toward India, or it will continue to face conflict, heightening tensions between the two countries, while rising tensions between China and the United States over Taiwan and the South China Sea issue, in addition to China’s economic The slump in an economy hit hard by zero-resonance policies.
Despite sluggish relations, India-China trade has continued to boom this year, surpassing the $100 billion mark for the second consecutive year in the past nine months.
According to official data in October, bilateral trade totaled US$103.63 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%. Meanwhile, India’s trade deficit climbed to more than $75 billion.
China’s exports to India climbed to $89.66 billion, up 31 percent, while India’s exports to $13.97 billion fell 36.4 percent over the past nine months, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs (General Administration of Customs).
After repeated appeals, China has finally allowed some of the hundreds of Indian students stranded at home since 2020 due to the Covid-19 travel ban to return to re-study.
According to official estimates, there are more than 23,000 Indian students studying in Chinese universities, most of them studying medicine. So far, hundreds of Indian students have reportedly returned after China started issuing visas.
Also at the end of the year, the coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, once again plagued the country.
Rare public protests erupted across the country in November over the much-hated zero-Covid policy under which cities and regions at peak Covid levels are regularly locked down.
China eases strict zero-Covid restrictions after protests. Shortly thereafter, the country was hit by the fastest-spreading strain of the coronavirus, the Omicron variant, putting a strain on health facilities.
China’s leading epidemiologist said the outbreak will peak in January and February, although the number of infections will continue to rise in the short term.
The official death toll from COVID in China so far in 2020 is 5,241.
In 2022, former President Jiang Zemin, who led the country out of isolation after the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and backed economic reforms that led to a decade of explosive growth, died at the age of 96.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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