'India will keep trying to avoid conflict.' 'This is the moment when we draw a line in the sand.'
India will not allow Chinese companies to participate in highway projects, including those through joint ventures, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday amid the border standoff with China. Gadakri also said the government will ensure that Chinese investors are not entertained in various sectors like the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The names of 20 Indian Army personnel, who were killed while valiantly fighting Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June last year, were inscribed on the National War Memorial ahead of the Republic Day, official sources said.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also alleged that foreign policy has been reduced to photo-ops and a chest-thumping exercise and is being used to secure contracts for a businessman.
The order for the second batch of the assault rifles would be coming after the first lot of 72,000 rifles, has already been delivered to the army for use by troops in Northern Command and other operational areas.
The Chinese admitted that they had suffered the maximum casualties fighting in the first battle on October 20, 1962, and these casualties had been inflicted mostly by 2 Rajput. Claude Arpi salutes Major B K Pant and his fighting force of 112 men, 82 of whom lost their lives in the Battle of Namkha Chu, and whose courage must never ever be forgotten by a grateful country for who they laid down their lives.
It is learnt that the India's top military brass is constantly monitoring the evolving situation even as the United States said the aggressive behaviour by Chinese troops was a reminder of the threat posed by China.
Defying the COVID-19 social distancing norms, huge crowds gathered to pay respects to the soldiers amid emotional moments.
China dismissed the reports as groundless.
India is increasingly a willing participant in the evolving US' Indo-Pacific strategy. While these developments are related to the perception of a growing Chinese security challenge, their implications for India's much-vaunted strategic autonomy should be a matter of deeper and closer reflection, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'Magnanimity and appeasement have no place in the world of realpolitik as India has learned the hard way,' notes Vivek Gumaste in the first of a two-part column.
China said that "sound and stable ties" serve the common interests of China and India.
During the course of the intense and complex negotiations between senior commanders of the two armies that ended at 2 am on Wednesday, the Indian delegation also apprised the Chinese PLA about the "red lines" and conveyed that the onus was largely on China to improve the overall situation in the region, the sources said.
The Indian Army has been pitching for a faster disengagement process in areas like Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang to bring down tension in the mountainous region.
'We should have seen these signals and reacted earlier.' 'We miss out on a certain strategic advantage by arriving late on the scene.'
They try to hide behind the smokescreen that these are works of fiction inspired by real events. So, you can pick and choose from facts and fictionalise to push the right triggers with your audience or appease the powers that be, observes Shekhar Gupta.
China on Monday dismissed the existence of a 'median line' in the volatile Taiwan Strait after Taiwan's defence ministry said it detected a record 103 Chinese warplanes flying around the self-ruled island in a 24-hour period.
The clear assertion by New Delhi came ahead of a fresh round of Lt General-level talks between the Indian army and the Chinese PLA which government sources said is set to take place within the next two days.
Singh also assured the opposition that the central government will not keep Parliament or anyone in the dark about developments on the border and will share details at an appropriate time.
Observers say China should re-address its policies towards India or else it will continue to face flare-ups increasing the tensions between the two countries at a time China's increasing tension with the US over Taiwan and the South China Sea besides the downturn in the Chinese economy which is hit hard by the zero-covid policy.
Gen Naravane said a "befitting response" was given to the "conspiracy" to make unilateral changes on the border and that the sacrifice of the Galwan heroes in eastern Ladakh will not go waste.
The deliberations focused on bringing down tension along the disputed borders and ways to bridge the trust deficit.
With General Naravane taking charge, all three services chiefs, including navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and the Indian Air Force's Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, are now from the 56th course of the National Defence Academy.
Over 68,000 Army soldiers, around 90 tanks and other weapon systems were airlifted by the Indian Air Force to eastern Ladakh from across the country for rapid deployment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after the deadly clashes in the Galwan Valley, top sources in defence and security establishment said.
If the Ladakh episode has ended, this is the time to find the truth about all the aspects of it and inform the nation and the world, the time is here and now, advises Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The heightened state of alert was only relaxed after Wang met his Jaishankar in Moscow on Friday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, a second source said.
In a major technology push, Indian Army has envisioned construction of "permanent defences" along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh using cutting-edge 3D printing technology, a move that will save time and improve its defence preparedness, sources said on Tuesday.
'We are developing infrastructure on the mountains and deploying the troops on hill borders in such a way that it is ensuring the safety of the people there.'
'Our brave Indian soldiers don't reply to raining of bricks with mere sticks, they do so with iron rods'
The competition for the worst or most perilous 10 years has always been between the 1960s and the 1980s, points out Shekhar Gupta.
India, Taiwan and countries with large numbers of Tibetans, Uyghurs and overseas Chinese will be prominent among those that witness elevated United Front activity, notes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RAW officer.
There will be status quo with regard to the MoUs signed with Hengli Engineering, PMI Electro Mobility Solutions JV with Photon and Great Wall Motors on June 15, 2020.
"We have to constantly upgrade our military and economic capabilities," the minister told army commanders while referring to relations with China as he opened the five-day top army commanders bi-annual conference in Delhi. His remarks are significant as the minister has just undertaken a major tour of the Sino-Indian frontier in Arunachal Pradesh.
In a statement, it said compared to physically and psychologically battle-hardened Indian troops, Chinese troops mostly are from urban areas and not used to hardships or prolonged deployment under field conditions.
Following a high-level meeting in New Delhi on February 2 between the two sides, India agreed to replace its military personnel operating the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10. The first batch left the island nation well before March 10.
Throughout 2022, China turned to the PLA as an increasingly capable instrument of Statecraft, strengthening its ability to 'fight and win wars' against a 'strong enemy', points out Ajai Shukla.
She provided no evidence for the claim, which is at the complete variance with Bhutan's stated position.
Snubbed by his party leader Rahul Gandhi and panned by the Bharatiya Janata Party for questioning surgical strikes, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh swung into damage control mode on Tuesday and said his questions were to the government and not the armed forces.
Jinan, a Luyang II-class missile destroyer of the Chinese navy, on Monday docked at Mumbai harbour on a stopover while on an anti-piracy mission on the Gulf of Aden.
Sri Lanka is currently processing a request by China to allow a research ship to dock in the country, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, a year after a visit by a Chinese spy vessel to the Island nation raised security concerns in India.
