Modi accused of surrendering to China after denying border incursion
- The hashtag #ModiSurrendersToChina is trending after Narendra Modi said no Indian territory was lost during last week’s border clashes with China
- Modi said the Indian army can take steps to resolve tensions, but Beijing said Indian troops provoked the skirmish, and that China claimed the Galwan valley
“Neither is anyone inside our territory nor is any of our posts captured,” Modi told opposition leaders at an all-party meeting late on Friday.
His statement raised questions over where the soldiers were when the clashes took place – in Indian or Chinese territory – in an area where a large part of the boundary is unmarked. It also contradicted the assertions of his own foreign ministry.
Just two days earlier, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the Chinese army had tried to erect a post in the Galwan Valley on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control – a 3,488km (2,167 mile) undemarcated border. In a statement after the call, New Delhi accused China of an “intent to change the facts on ground in violation of all our agreements to not change the status quo”.
Modi’s office on Saturday issued a statement seeking to clarify the “mischievous interpretation” given to his remarks.
“Prime Minister was clear that India would respond firmly to any attempts to transgress the Line of Actual Control. In fact, he specifically emphasised that in contrast to the past neglect of such challenges, Indian forces now decisively counter any violations of LAC,” the statement said. “Violence in Galwan on 15 June arose because Chinese side was seeking to erect structures just across the LAC and refused to desist from such actions.”
Within hours of Modi’s initial comments, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted that Indian troops had provoked the deadly skirmish and reiterated that China claimed the Galwan valley as its own.
“India’s front-line troops, in violation of the agreement reached at the commander-level meeting, once again crossed the Line of Actual Control for deliberate provocation when the situation in the Galwan Valley was already easing,” Lijian said of the June 15 clashes.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Indian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
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In the meeting on Friday, Modi also said the Indian army is free to take necessary steps to resolve tensions, and acknowledged that the entire country is “hurt and angry” by the clash.
“India has also conveyed its position clearly to China through diplomatic means,” he said.
Modi said that although India wants peace and friendship, the priority is protecting the country’s sovereignty, adding that India will continue to develop its border infrastructure at a rapid pace and always stand up to outside pressure.
China and India agreed on Wednesday to resolve military tensions on their contested border through dialogue, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar pledging to strive to maintain peace in the disputed area, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
But Wang also blamed India for the incident in the Galwan Valley and warned it “not to underestimate China’s firm will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty”.
Modi’s comments drew criticism from Indian army veterans and former civil servants.
“I’m shattered to see India quietly accepting China changing status of LAC in Eastern Ladakh,” tweeted Rameshwar Roy, retired lieutenant general and former chief of India’s Assam Rifles division. “What a sad day for every soldier like me.”
Former national security adviser Shivshankar Menon called the prime minister’s comments “an ill-considered and inaccurate statement that concedes territory and the gains of aggression”, according to a report in The Wire. “If this is so, why and where were our soldiers killed?”
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The deadly clash had dealt a heavy blow to China-India ties, which were already suffering, said Sun Shihai, director of the China Centre for South Asian Studies in Sichuan University.
“I think Modi is trying to appease the searing anti-China nationalism at home and avoid the further escalation of the situation into another China-India war, even though he is likely to face some backlash from opposition at home,” Sun said. “China will likely take Modi’s statement as an effort to ease off the tension, as neither side wants a war.”
Incidents of a face-off have also been reported at the disputed Pangong Tso – a glacial lake at 14,000 feet in the Tibetan plateau, portions of which are claimed by both, apart from the Galwan valley, which was one of the early triggers of the 1962 India-China war.
Additional reporting by Kyodo
