The US and China have sparred over the origin of the virus for days, with a Chinese official promoting conspiracy theories.
The MoUs were signed on Monday under the 'Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0', hours before the violent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, in which 20 Indian Army personnel were martyred.
The Chinese side has particularly bolstered its presence in the Galwan Valley, erecting around 100 tents in the last two weeks and bringing in heavy equipment for construction of bunkers, notwithstanding the stiff protest by Indian troops. There have been reports of multiple incidents of transgressions by Chinese troops in several areas in Eastern Ladakh.
The participants would include senior ministers dealing with the situation along with the senior military leadership. The leadership is likely to discuss the Chinese military activities in Doklam and other areas on Bhutanese soil along with the Indian preparations to deal with the situation.
'Today, our vast green pastures where local herders used to take their cattle to graze have been taken over by the Chinese.' 'The people in the Galwan Valley have lost their lands where their cattle used to graze.'
'When sensitive territory goes into the hands of your enemy. he becomes more powerful in military terms.' 'Assuming the Chinese take over the Doklam Plateau they will not stop at that.' 'They will keep ingressing, and it will be easier for them to further expand their territory.' 'I feel the Chinese will vacate that area in two months after it begins to snow.'
When asked for an update on Tuesday's military-level talks, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in Beijing that both sides reached progress for promoting further disengagement of the border troops at the Western Sector.
Referring to the developments in Ladakh in the wake of Chinese aggression, he said disengagement with People's Liberation Army was completed from various areas in a peaceful manner and efforts are on through dialogue for disengagement from other areas.
India and China will complete the disengagement process in the Gogra-Hotsprings area in eastern Ladakh by September 12, the External Affairs Ministry said on Friday.
No one is in a critical condition as of now, all are stable, said Indian Army sources.
In all likelihood, the next conventional Chinese attack on India would be preceded by a massive cyber attack designed to cripple Indian networks and interfere with our disaster-relief programmes.
The stand-off in Chumar area of Ladakh area took a new turn on Sunday with Chinese People's Liberation Army pitching 7 tents well within the Indian territory and showing no signs of withdrawing from the territory.
DRDO's latest tank will face trial in Rajasthan's summer which will be followed by 'user trials' ahead of facing battle in high-altitude deserts of eastern Ladakh and Sikkim, reports Ajai Shukla.
Earlier in the day, the Chinese embassy in Delhi first posted and later removed a statement on its website saying that the two met after the Congress denied it as "fake news".
Hours after United States Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew out of Taiwan, leaving the Indo-Pacific region in a state of some unrest, External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken held extensive talks ahead of the ASEAN meeting in Cambodia on Thursday, August 4, 2022.
China on Monday signed a defence cooperation agreement with the Maldives to provide free military assistance to foster "stronger" bilateral ties with Male, weeks after President Mohamed Muizzu set a deadline for the withdrawal of the first group of Indian military personnel from his island nation.
Disengagement from the LAC will remain a chimera because China has given enough indications that the PLA will not move back any more. China has even deployed drones to monitor and deny any patrolling by Indian troops even in the buffer zones which are all in Indian Territory, explains Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, he said there has been a 'complete and total failure' of foreign policy under the Modi government.
According to estimates, both India and China have deployed more than 50,000 troops in the Eastern Ladakh sector opposite each other despite the limited disengagement in the Pangong lake sector by both sides earlier this year.
The Central Military Commission, which is the overall high command of the Chinese military, is headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
'The Galwan Valley clashes helped us prioritise our national security approach towards the northern border'
The prime minister is presently at one of the forward locations in Nimu and is interacting with personnel of the Army, Air Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police, official sources said.
Rajnath Singh believes it would be naive to see disengagement of the armies from the LAC as the end of the trouble. The defence minister has urged the defence forces to be ready for a long haul
'At this moment you cannot give her asylum because if you do, then you are directing public anger against India.'
Given that public memory is short, we felt it was the right time to go back a little in history and test your memory about who said what and when about China with a little quiz. Enjoy!
Indian troops were maintaining their "posture" along the border with China while infrastructure development in the frontier areas was on track, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane said on Thursday, days after personnel of the two countries were locked in two separate incidents of violent face-offs. Gen Naravane said the incidents in Eastern Ladakh and North Sikkim involved aggressive behaviour by Chinese and Indian troops resulting in minor injuries to personnel from both the sides.
'The jungles of Doda covers about 250 km.' 'Sleeper cells are providing active help to the terrorists.' 'The terrain and situation is such that it is not possible to keep track of every inch.'
"Our patience is a sign of our self-confidence, but no one should make the mistake of testing it," Gen Naravane said.
In separate statements, the Chinese foreign and the defence ministries, however, repeated Beijing's stand that India was responsible for the June 15 violent face-off in eastern Ladakh. Defence Ministry Spokesman Col Wu Qian said the two defence ministers are negotiating on the phone.
This is the first time that the defence ministry has admitted officially about the transgressions by the Chinese troops.
The development comes after after reaching a consensus in the 16th round of military talks, the two sides said in a joint statement this evening.
'In the short term the relationship will get worse.'
China has been taking "incremental and tactical actions" to press its claims at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India and has unsuccessfully sought to prevent New Delhi from deepening its relationship with the US during and subsequent to the standoff, the Pentagon has said in a major report on China's military modernisation.
The talks between India and China on the border row in eastern Ladakh have helped 'build trust' and the situation in the region has been normal since the disengagement in the Pangong Tso areas in February, Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane said on Thursday, exuding confidence of resolution of the 'remaining issues'.
The alleged incident occurred on Friday in Nacho area of the district, their families said.
However, the government rejected the army's demand to implement the scheme with retrospective effect from June last year, when the Doklam face-off between Indian and Chinese armies had begun, official sources said.
The Biden administration's failure in stopping two major wars and several minor ones was seen as a major disaster by many Americans and the world at large, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India's top military and strategic brass on Tuesday reviewed the overall situation in eastern Ladakh amid indications that the latest round of talks between senior military commanders of Indian and Chinese armies on the next phase of disengagement of troops may not have produced encouraging results, people familiar with the developments said.
The video comes just days after 20 Indian soldiers lost their in a "violent face-off" with Chinese troops in the LAC across Galwan Valley of Ladakh.
The seventh round of military talks between India and China held on Monday was "positive and constructive", and both sides agreed to earnestly implement the understanding reached by their leaders to not turn differences into disputes, a joint statement by the two armies said on Tuesday.
