Congress MP Jairam Ramesh raises fresh questions on India's China stance
Dec 20, 2022
New Delhi [India], December 21 : Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday posed fresh questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on China.
The party released a statement, quoting Ramesh as saying, "We agree with what the External Affairs Minister (EAM) said that our jawans should be 'respected, honoured and appreciated' as they stand strong against our adversaries. But was it respect that led PM Modi to say 'n vhaaN koii hmaarii siimaa meN ghus aayaa hai aur n hii koii ghusaa huaa hai' (Neither has anyone intruded our border, nor has anyone entered our territory) after 20 of our soldiers gave their lives defending our borders on June 19, 2020?"
Ramesh stated further, "The EAM claims that relations with China are 'not normal'. Then why have we never called the Chinese Ambassador and issued a demarche as we do with the Pakistan High Commissioner? Why is our trade dependence on China at a record high with imports at $95 billion in 2021-22 and the trade deficit at $74 billion? Why did our troops conduct military exercises with Chinese troops at Russia's Vostok-22 exercise in September 2022?"
Quoting the EAM, Ramesh said, "The EAM says that we will not let China change the status of the LAC unilaterally. Has the status quo not been altered by Chinese troops 18 km deep in Depsang for the last two years? Is it not altered by the fact that our troops are unable to access 1,000 sq km of territory in Eastern Ladakh that they earlier patrolled? Is it not altered by the fact that we have agreed to buffer zones that prevent our patrols from going to areas they previously could go to? When will the EAM unequivocally declare that restoration of the pre-2020 status quo is our objective?"
The Congress leader also questioned the government's stance to 'legitimise' Chinese aggression by referring to "differences in perception".
He said, "The EAM said 'we are pressuring China'. Why then do we have a purely reactive stance? Why did we withdraw from our advantageous position in the Kailash range without ensuring a full restoration of the pre-2020 status quo? Why have we not been more aggressive and made counter-intrusions to compel the Chinese to withdraw as we did in 1986 and 2013? When will we stop legitimising Chinese aggression by referring to 'differences in perception' rather than asserting our claim?"
Earlier, Ramesh had posed five questions to PM Modi on China which, he said, the nation deserves an answer to.
