India-China Border Row: Military officials met Monday for the seventh time to restore calm. (Proceedings)
New Delhi:
After Defense Minister Rajnath Singh opened 44 new bridges near the borders, China, in a strong reaction, said today that it “does not recognize the Ladakh Union territory illegally established by India” and opposes the construction of infrastructure. in the region.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, also called the development of border infrastructure “the root cause of tension between the two sides” and said that neither side should take measures that could increase tension.
Zhao was asked to react to the series of bridges opened in India, including eight in Ladakh and eight in Arunachal Pradesh.
“First I want to make it clear that China does not recognize the Ladakh Union Territory illegally established by the Indian side and Arunachal Pradesh. We oppose the development of infrastructure facilities intended for military containment along the border area,” said the Chinese. spokesman.
“Based on consensus, neither of the two should take actions along the border that could aggravate the situation, that is, to avoid undermining the efforts of the two sides to alleviate the situation.”
He also said that the Indian side “accelerating the development of infrastructure along the border and increasing military deployment is the root cause of the tensions between the two sides.”
“We urge the Indian side to seriously implement our consensus and refrain from actions that may aggravate the situation and take concrete measures to safeguard peace and tranquility along the border,” Zhao said.
The new bridges will facilitate faster movement of troops and weapons closer to the border, authorities said.
The bridges news came as senior military officials from India and China met for the seventh time on Monday to restore calm after several recent clashes. The talks lasted more than 11 hours and ended around 11:30 pm, reports say.
Indian and Chinese troops have been at odds in eastern Ladakh since May and the tension peaked in June when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the line of duty in a clash with the Chinese. Last month, shots were fired into the air more than once when the two armies came face to face in Pangong Tso.
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