The Army Chief was in Ladakh on a two-day visit from June 23 to take stock of the situation.
'The Galwan Valley clashes helped us prioritise our national security approach towards the northern border'
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in major diplomatic mode, trying to save the US-Pakistan relationship; White House adopts same tack; meanwhile, the pro-Pakistan lobby is on an overdrive. Aziz Haniffa reports.
Kailash Satyarthi hoped India-US relationship would strengthen.
India should fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the State Department insists.
'India has a strong and proud tradition of strategic autonomy, and we respect that'
The Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a bitter standoff at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for over eight weeks since May 5.
India needs to shed its policy of lethargy and inhibitions to engage the Taliban with an intent to maintain its influence in Afghanistan. This would not just put a spanner in Pakistani designs, but also incentivise the Taliban not to be the puppets of GHQ, Rawalpindi, asserts Colonel Nikhil Apte (retd), who served on the Af-Pak desk at the Military Operations Directorate.
'Their deteriorating economic and international situation is also responsible for being more reasonable.'
The virtual meeting comes in the midst of some disquiet in Washington over India's position on the Ukraine crisis as well as its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.
Vice Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General C P Mohanty on Thursday carried out a comprehensive review of India's military preparedness in eastern Ladakh on the first day of his three-day visit to the region where Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a bitter standoff for over a year.
Addressing diplomats, the RSS chief says his organisation doesn't support online trolling.
'If the Russian forces do capture Kyiv and set up some sort of provisional government, they might run into an insurgency, for which the geography is just right, it could prove costly for them.' 'In that event, the whole exercise could turn out to be counter-productive -- and costly in both foreign policy and domestic terms.'
China on Thursday told Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that it will always put its "all-weather ally" as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy as it praised his commitment to promote the USD 60 billion CPEC initiative.
The formal process of disengagement of troops began on July 6, a day after a nearly two-hour telephonic conversation between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on ways to bring down tensions in the area.
The resolution was introduced by Senator John Cornyn, Republican Senate Majority Whip, and Senator Mark Warner, ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov will be the other two participants at the conference. Uncertainty had loomed over the meeting following the cross border clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley on Monday evening.
Now, as before, India's vote at the UN was dictated by paramount national interests. Though the Indian vote was 'neutral', its explanation was explicit in its criticism of the Russian actions. India took back with the left hand what it had given with the right, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Biden's authorisation of 5,000 troops in his statement on Saturday included 1,000 who are already on the ground in Afghanistan, according to a defence official. A battalion of 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division were redirected to Kabul, instead of their original standby position in Kuwait.
'Both have a very nationalistic view of foreign policy.' 'They think they are shrewd and clever diplomats.'
Sources also said that India meets the criteria for a US sanctions waiver for procuring S-400 missile defence systems from Russia and the Trump administration has 'enough flexibility' on the issue.
This visit has ended on a vastly different note in comparison with Modi's previous visits. Call it a rebuke, call it a censure, call it a distancing from Modi, the sharp message would have gone home, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The 11th round of the Corps Commander-level talks began at around 10.30 am at the Chushul border point on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, they said.
The two sides held diplomatic talks through video conference on the border standoff in midst of fresh details emerging that China has strengthened its position in several areas in eastern Ladakh including Galwan Valley where a violent clash on June 15 left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
The Wednesday talks took place amid a war of words between the two sides on perception of the LAC, the de-facto Sino-India border spanning a length of nearly 3,500 km.
'We should carefully handle issues concerning each other's core interests. We should properly manage and control problems that cannot be solved for the time being'
He said India has held itself with dignity throughout the whole ordeal
India on Friday spoke in conciliatory language on the issue of its senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade case, saying that it was important to "preserve" the "valuable" bilateral relationship even as the United States ruled out the demand for dropping of the charges against her.
"Our relationship is so big that it is no longer a bilateral relationship. It has global dimensions," the report quoted Jaishankar as saying.
'The impasse on the India-China border in the Sikkim sector persists, but the Hamburg meeting between the two leaders will certainly have its salutary effects on the relationship between the two countries,' says China scholar Rup Narayan Das.
The gold, weighing over 30 kg, was seized from the "diplomatic baggage" that had landed by air cargo at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport recently from the Gulf.
Singh and Esper also deliberated on ways to further boost bilateral defence and security cooperation, they said, adding the telephonic conversation took place at the request of the US side.
'India should not be taken by surprise if the Biden administration seeks China's cooperation at some point,' alerts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Expressing grave concern over a US nuclear-powered submarine sustaining damage in the disputed South China Sea, China on Friday demanded Washington to reveal the details and the location of the accident and blamed America's frequent air and naval sorties in the Indo-Pacific to assert the "freedom of navigation" as the "root cause" of the incident.
"I think the principle benefit would be greater visibility to the relationship at the highest level with President Obama and Prime Minister Singh," Karl F 'Rick' Inderfurth, the former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs said.
On the first anniversary of the deadly clashes, the army said the supreme sacrifice of the soldiers while fighting the adversary in the "most difficult" high altitude terrain will be "eternally etched" in the memory of the nation.
'Analysts see BECA as a 'force multiplier' for India.' 'But China too is known to have such capabilities.' 'The military gap with China will continue to remain a fact of life, BECA notwithstanding,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
India's unusual tough stand on the arrest of its diplomat Devyani Khobragade has forced the United States to initiate an "inter-agency review" to look into the lapses that happened in the high-profile case that triggered an uproar in India and strained bilateral ties.
'This was Indian land the PLA advanced on and occupied.' 'The Chinese then 'negotiated' a pullback of their troops a small distance on Indian territory even as Indian jawans draw back further into India from the forward position.' 'An apparently satisfied Indian government says this is a great move for peace! How great is that for China!'
