Four-nation grouping Quad on Tuesday launched a major new initiative for the Indo-Pacific that allows the partner countries to fully monitor the waters on their shores and help ensure peace and stability in the region, a move that comes amid China's increasingly intimidatory behaviour.
China has virtually rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal to clarify positions on the Line of Actual Control and said it prefers an agreement with India on a Code of Conduct to maintain peace along the border.
Four Chinese soldiers were killed in the fierce clash with the Indian Army in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June last year, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) acknowledged for the first time on Friday.
He termed the situation with China as 'very dangerous' and said India under Modi does not have any clear cut strategy on China, which is testing the country and will not sit silent.
Through the past 18-month period, peace has prevailed in the disputed border regions, which was immensely helpful in the difficult situation that the country was passing through, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Chinese -- up to the highest leadership -- will avoid a conflict because they know they will be badly licked.' 'The reputation they have painstakingly built over the last two-three decades of being a global power will be destroyed.'
'We are fully capable of handling anti-India propaganda but it does pain when a former president of such a big political party does ochi rajiniti (shallow minded politics) at a time of problems. It is a matter of self-introspection for him and the Congress'
India on Wednesday delivered a strong message to China that the 'unprecedented' incident in the Galwan Valley will have a 'serious impact' on the bilateral relationship and held the 'pre-meditated' action by Chinese army directly responsible for the violence that left 20 Indian Army personnel dead.
India and China met and spoke a lot this year, but failed to produce any meaningful results.
'China would want to take a tougher stance against India forming those strategic partnerships and prevent Quad from becoming a military alliance.'
'There is little appetite in the Democratic foreign policy establishment to pick a fight with India.'
In the midst of rising global concern over China's military expansionism, India and three other member nations of the Quad on Thursday vowed to uphold a rules-based international order underpinned by respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of disputes.
Admiral Philips Davidson, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, also told the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that China's recent activities along the Line of Actual Control have opened India's eyes to what cooperative effort with others might mean for their own defensive needs as he observed that New Delhi, in the very near term, will deepen its engagement with the Quad.
'The Indian Army is fully prepared for a long and permanent deployment if the PLA does not retreat.'
The main focus will be on the situation in eastern Ladakh where Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball face-off in sensitive areas like Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie
He said that following a build-up of troops, multiple transgressions and attempts to unilaterally change facts on the ground by China, there have been several levels of talks and a fair amount of communication to ensure that the matter can be resolved through negotiation and diplomacy.
From the standoff with China to the government's response to the farmers' protest, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh holds a freewheeling talk.
Please, let us not be scared of multinational corporations
More than India's alignment with the Quad, India's defence cooperation and partnership with the USA is of critical importance, notes Rup Narayan Das.
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.
Gen Naravane also said the Army will enhance combat capabilities along the border with China so that it is fully prepared to deal with any security challenge.
The IAF commanders held detailed deliberations on the border row with China in eastern Ladakh, key short-term and long-term security challenges facing the nation and on the complex geo-political power play in India's neighbourhood.
The Border Defence Cooperation Agreement inked between India and China on Wednesday facilitates establishment of a hotline between the military headquarters of the two countries, besides border personnel meeting sites in all sectors receiving broad directive not to tail each others' patrols along the disputed borders.
Shah attacked Banerjee over the alleged culture of political violence in the state, saying the only industry that was flourishing in Bengal was that of "crude bombs and illegal weapons".
Who knows, the moment of truth in Ladakh may also augur for a giant leap toward boundary settlement with China in the fulness of time. The news that the special representatives of the two countries are planning to meet gives a positive signal, suggests Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
He has Biden's ear and because of the past relationship, Biden will actually listen to him, unlike some past residents of Roosevelt House.
The enhancement of combat capability by the two armies in the region came even as both the countries continued their efforts to resolve the dispute through talks at military and diplomatic levels.
Hours after withdrawing from the Chumar region in Ladakh, Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers were on Friday reported to have crossed into Indian territory again and stationed themselves on a hillock.
'If you behave like a nail, the adversary will behave like a hammer.'
Gen Naravane reviewed the overall security situation in the region with Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Yogesh Kumar Joshi, commander of the 14 Corps Lt Gen Harinder Singh and other senior Army officials.
Since China began this buildup, the Indian side says Chinese troops will have to start the de-escalation. Only then will Indian troops go back. The June 6 meeting agreed to this roadmap.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official asserted that US President Donald Trump, during his presidency, has really strengthened all aspects of the US-India security and defence cooperation to build a comprehensive, enduring and mutually beneficial defence partnership.
Situated at a height of 15,200 feet above sea level, the pass sits on the top of a craggily formed Himalayan range that separates the Tibetan plateau from the Indian sub-continent.
'India will keep trying to avoid conflict.' 'This is the moment when we draw a line in the sand.'
In a most perverse example of tax bullying, someone I know has got by three such notices reopening his assessment minutes before the midnight deadline of June 30, reveals Debashis Basu.
Opposition parties on Tuesday questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh and asked them to take the nation into confidence on the matter, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party asserted that India's borders will remain intact under Modi's leadership.
'We should not worry too much about Indian capabilities, both military and otherwise.'
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 Chief of the Army Staff interacted with almost all the injured soldiers and complimented them for their bravery.
