China-India ties depend on ‘peace and tranquillity at the borders’, Indian defence minister says

Name: India pitches ‘affordable’ military equipment to Africa amid anti-China defence push
Uploaded: 2023-04-28T08:00:18.000Z
Duration: 1 min 52 s
Description: India pitches ‘affordable’ military equipment to Africa amid anti-China defence push

Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu tells Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh their militaries should continue to build mutual trust

Singh said Iran, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan meetings were a ‘wonderful interaction’ or ‘fruitful discussions’ but simply said he ‘held discussions’ with Li

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Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation defence minister’s meeting in New Delhi. Photo: EPA-EFE/Indian Ministry of Defence

Jack Lau

Published: 4:00pm, 28 Apr 2023Updated: 7:22pm, 28 Apr 2023

Violations of agreements on the contentious India-China border “eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations”, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart in New Delhi on Thursday.

Singh also told visiting Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu that bilateral ties were premised on the “prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders”, a statement from India’s Ministry of Defence said.

The defence ministers of the two countries had not publicly met since September 2020, when General Wei Fenghe, Li’s predecessor, talked to Singh in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers’ meeting, three months after a clash in the Galwan Valley left at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops dead.

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India pitches ‘affordable’ military equipment to Africa amid anti-China defence push

Li’s trip to India for the SCO meeting of defence ministers on Friday marked the first visit by a Chinese defence minister since the deadly clash.

“[Singh] reiterated that violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation,” the Indian ministry said.

The countries fought each other in a war in 1962 over the western part of the boundary, which was not clearly defined by the British Indian government because of the remoteness of the Himalayan area.

China and India agreed in 1993 to maintain peace along the border, including not to use force or engage in activities that overstep the Line of Actual Control before they could agree on the border issue. Another agreement signed in 1996 further defined obligations between troops along the border.

Ties between China and India deteriorated after a series of fights along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border, in 2020 and 2021. The countries have been building roads, railway lines and bridges in disputed areas along the border.

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