US says China's aggression on disputed boundary with India reminder of threat it posed

The United States on Wednesday said that China’s recent build-up along its disputed boundary with India was not just “rhetorical”, but was a “reminder of the threat” posed by the communist country.

“This is a reminder that Chinese aggression is not always just rhetorical. So whether it is in the South China Sea or whether it is along the border with India, we continue to see provocations and disturbing behaviour by China that raise questions how it seeks to use its growing power,” Alice G Wells, a senior US diplomat, said during a video-conference with journalists. She was responding to a question on China’s recent move to deploy additional troops along its disputed boundary with India at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.

Wells will retire as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US State Department at the end of this month. She has been overseeing the US relations with the countries in South and Central Asia over the past three years.

China on Monday accused India of trespassing into its territory and illegally building defence facilities in the Galwan Valley. The Global Times, a state-owned newspaper of the communist country, published a rare report on escalating tension between the two sides. It alleged that Indian Army soldiers had been trespassing into territory of China since early May. It also accused Indian Army of “illegally” constructing defence facilities in its territory in the Galwan Valley region.

New Delhi dismissed the allegation, with sources insisting that the Indian Army soldiers had never transgressed into the territory of China. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had first deployed additional troops, who had set up as many as 80 tents near the disputed boundary. The Indian Army too had to send additional troops to beef up defence, but none of its soldiers had transgressed into the territory claimed by China.

What apparently rattled the Chinese PLA and prompted it to deploy additional troops in Galwan Valley was a new strategic road constructed by the Border Roads Organization of the Government of India in the region. The road, according to the sources in New Delhi, however, lay completely within the territory of India.

“We want to see it as an international system that provides benefit to everyone and not a system where there is suzerainty to China. In this instance the border disputes are a reminder of the threat posed by China,” Wells said, articulating the US position on China’s aggression in the disputed South China Sea as well as along its disputed boundary with India.

She said that it was China’s “aggressive and disturbing behaviour” that prompted the “like-minded nations” like the US, Japan and India as well as the South East Asian nations to come together – be it in the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) or other trilateral or quadrilateral groupings.

The build-up on both sides of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between India and China – in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh continued even as the diplomats and the military leaders of the two sides were in touch to de-escalate the situation, according to the latest reports received in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The Indian Army and Chinese PLA soldiers also had a skirmish during a brief face-off in northern Sikkim on May 9. Four Indian Army soldiers and 11 Chinese PLA personnel suffered injuries in the scuffle.