News Desk AnyTV Washington
Published by: Megha Chowdhary
Updated Thu, 03 Mar 2022 02:07 PM IST
Summary
A senior Biden administration official told lawmakers that China is provoking India at every turn. As it is doing with the United States. The official said that Washington is committed to strengthen India’s defense capability to counter provocations from China.
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Expansion
Let us tell you that China’s relations with India are going through difficult times. Relations between the two countries have not been perfect since Beijing violated the agreement not to bring military forces to the eastern Ladakh border.
Assistant Secretary of State in the Biden administration, Donald Lu, told the Senate Subcommittee on East, South Asia and Central Asia on Wednesday that China is provoking India in the same way it does to the US. He said that India had boycotted the Beijing Games after China chose the regimental commander responsible for the attack on the Indian border. 20 Indian soldiers were martyred in this conflict. At the same time, recently Beijing has released a new map of China. In this, it had presented its claim over a large part of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Along with this, the names of cities were also kept with Chinese names.
The border standoff started in eastern Ladakh on 5 May 2020 after violent clashes at Pangong Lake. On 15 June 2020, the army came face to face in the Galwan Valley. India is in talks with China over the eastern border standoff that India will not agree to any changes and unilaterally change the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Lu told lawmakers that the US was also working to strengthen its defense ties with India. It is also committed to strengthen India’s defense capability to counter Chinese provocations through enhanced naval cooperation, enhanced information sharing and cooperation in space and cyberspace.
Referring to the Quad Ministerial in Melbourne, Lu said he was amazed by the resolve of all Quad partners to support an independent and Indo-Pacific. The Quad is a four-member group consisting of the US, India, Australia and Japan. The group has been formed to gain control over the growing Chinese assertiveness in the region. Quad is making progress towards achieving its goal of delivering 1 billion doses of COVID-19 to the world. China claims almost all of the disputed South China Sea. However, Taiwan, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim some part of it. At the same time, Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South Sea. Along with this, Beijing is also involved in a maritime dispute with Japan over the East China Sea.
Lu also denied Senator Ted Cruz’s allegations that the Biden administration had denied China countering the Quad. He said that I have attended every session of the quad. Every session we are talking about competing with China with three quads. We are talking about countering China through security and defense activities. Along with this, we are also talking about the corona vaccine, because we know that it is part of China’s reach in the Indo Pacific. That’s why I object to that statement because I have not seen it. The US, India, Japan and Australia established the Quad in November 2017.