India attended a virtual BRICS security meeting convened by China on Wednesday – the second anniversary of the June 15, 2020 clash between the soldiers of the two nations in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval joined his counterparts from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa for a meeting, which was convened and chaired by the communist country’s senior official Yang Jiechi.
Doval stressed stepping up cooperation among the BRICS nations to fight against the menace of terrorism, including by preventing the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools, often used by the terrorists. He also emphasized the BRICS nations stepping up cooperation in outer space and maritime security.
He underlined the importance of trusted and resilient supply chains.
Yang is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. He is also the director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s National Security Council, also attended the virtual meeting. So did the top officials of the Brazilian and South African governments.
The virtual meeting coincidentally took place on the second anniversary of the violent face-off, which had taken place between the soldiers of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Galwan Valley. The military stand-off, which had started along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in April-May, 2020, had reached a flashpoint with the June 15, 2020 clash. The Indian Army had lost 20 of its soldiers. The PLA much later revealed that it had also lost four soldiers.
The stand-off is still continuing, with both the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA deploying 50000-60000 soldiers all along with the western sector of the disputed boundary between the two nations. Though negotiations led to the mutual withdrawal of troops from Galwan Valley, both sides of Pangong Tso and Gogra Post, the stand-off could not be completely resolved.
Yang convened the meeting of the BRICS security officials ahead of the summit of the five-nation bloc, which Chinese President Xi Jinping would chair later this month.
China is currently holding the rotating chairmanship of the BRICS and will pass it on to South Africa after the summit.
Modi will take part in the summit virtually.
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