Trump couldn't care less anymore about the Israeli demand for Iran's 'de-nuclearisation' and 'de-militarisation.' Trump pins hopes on a grand bargain with Iran as a partner in America First, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Fears in Washington began to intensify when it was realised that subsequent Pakistani and Indian attacks on major military facilities -- which were significant in terms of geographic scope and intensity -- could rapidly take both sides to where neither actually wanted to go.' 'The US objective was to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Everything else was secondary.'
The Indian Army is looking at deploying over 350 light tanks, mostly in the mountainous border areas.
India insisted that PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held "conversation on range of issues" in Hamburg.
The Chinese military is now desperately attempting to give "ex post facto strategic meaning" to its actions in eastern Ladakh.
But there is a bigger issue that both of us have brought forces close up and in that sense there is a militarisation of the border, he said.
It is time for India to raise its voice not just through military prowess, but through professionalism, principled voting and partnerships, asserts Deepak Mishra.
At a press conference ahead of Air Force Day on October 8, he also said that India needs to catch up with China on technology and speed in production of military equipment, holding that "we are way behind" the neighbour. Air Chief Marshal Singh, at the same time, said the Indian military is way ahead in terms of personnel including those operating various machines and platforms. "I am very confident that as far as human angle is concerned, as far as our people behind the machine are concerned, we are way ahead of them," he said.
NSA Doval is set to travel to Beijing this week to attend the BRICS NSAs meeting scheduled to be held from July 27-28
The Indian side is expected to seek disengagement as soon as possible in the remaining friction points besides pressing for resolution of issues in Depsang Bulge and Demchok.
China's Defence Ministry says the militaries of China and India are making "great progress" in implementing the disengagement agreement to end over four-year-long standoff in eastern Ladakh. Spokesman Sr Col Wu Qian said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun had a positive meeting in Vientiane, Laos, last week, and the two sides are implementing the settlement reached between the two counties. The two ministers agreed to implement the important consensus reached between the top leaders and promote stable relations between the two countries, the spokesman said.
Following the disengagement, both sides will soon start the coordinated patrolling in their respective areas, sources added.
Ren Guoqiang, a spokesperson of the Chinese defence ministry, in a statement said, "Chinese armed forces have also shown a high level of restraint with an eye to the general bilateral relations and the regional peace and stability."
The decision to disengage the forces, locked in a bitter standoff for the last six weeks in eastern Ladakh, was taken at a nearly 11-hour-long meeting between senior Indian and Chinese commanders in Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Monday.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to take part in the India-China Special Representatives' talks to be held on Wednesday aimed at restoring the bilateral ties stalled for over four years' due to the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
The visit is part of the "Op Deployment of #IndianNavy's @IN_EasternFleet to the #SouthChinaSea," it said, amidst China flexing its muscles in the South China Sea.
India and China have agreed to take measures to further ease the situation at the borders while continuing to implement the October agreement to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh comprehensively. The two sides held the 32nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC) in New Delhi, agreeing to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels and safeguard sustainable peace and stability in the border areas. This meeting follows the October 21 agreement between the two countries to resolve the over four-year-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
The situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh is stable but sensitive and not normal, Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi said on Tuesday on the dragging military standoff between China and India in the region.
China, however, remained ambiguous about the status of its own troops.
The advisory asked to pay close attention to the security situation and take necessary precautions.
The Indian Army has released photos and videos of its soldiers playing cricket at a very high-altitude forward location in eastern Ladakh amid the lingering border row with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the region.
He also said "Chinese belligerence is evident in its continuing propensity to project power outside its region", in turn presenting a "threat to the rules-based international order".
A day after the nearly 12-and-half-hour talks, the two sides, in a joint statement on Monday, reaffirmed that the resolution of the pending issues would help in the restoration of peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the region and enable progress in bilateral relations.
'The border stand-off and the uncertainties that come with it should be a wake-up call on what makes for real rather than illusory power,' observes T N Ninan.
Gold future prices sustained upward trend for the fourth straight session by surging Rs 2,048 to hit a fresh record high of Rs 100,000 per 10 grams as investors rushed to safe havens after US President Donald Trump indicated plans to overhaul Federal Reserve amid continuing global trade war jitters. On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), the August delivery contract of the yellow metal bounced by Rs 2,048 or 2.1 per cent to hit a fresh peak of Rs 100,000 per 10 grams in the mid-session trade.
During the meeting, it was reiterated that "restoration of peace and tranquillity, and respect for the LAC are the essential basis for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations", it said.
The Indian Army is enhancing the combat prowess of its artillery units along the frontier with China by procuring an array of weapons systems, including an additional batch of 100 K9 Vajra howitzers, swarm drones, loitering munitions and surveillance systems.
Their shared brief: To assert India's case with clarity, rebut hostile narratives, and secure enduring partnerships for global counter-terror cooperation.
The armies are working to schedule their seventh round of talks to take steps towards "early and complete" disengagement of troops along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.
'They will continue to keep pricking at places where both of us are sensitive and keep the LAC alive.'
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. The visit comes amid ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and to resume bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The MEA said the two sides shared their perspectives on the matter in the talks held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere.
The joint statement said Jaishankar and Wang agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus reached between leaders of the two countries on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes.
The eastern Ladakh military standoff between India and China began in May 2020 and a deadly clash at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.
Mountain brigades being raised by India are mostly meant for the Chinese border, especially the Tibetan plateau, and it is perhaps the first time a Chinese military expert publicly complimented their strength and strategic importance.
'A firm national resolve can only deter and defeat the nefarious designs of the adversary,' notes Rup Narayan Das.
India has maintained there is no scope for a third party mediation.
'However, a lot of preparatory work would have to go in and China must be prepared to announce an end to the standoff by disengaging from the remaining areas along the LAC.'
'A breakthrough in eastern Ladakh leading to disengagement and creation of a buffer zone will obviate the need of military deployment through the winter months ahead,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Xu, 60, is expected to travel to New Delhi soon to take over his new posting.
