US backs India in LAC stand-off with China

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 1

The military stalemate on the line of actual control (LAC) continued even as the US backed India in the stand-off and the Chinese Foreign Office once again repeated that the situation in the border areas as “stable and under control”.

Both India and China kept under wraps diplomatic negotiations to resolve the stand-offs that emerged after the Chinese troops reacted to efforts to modernise the military infrastructure on the Indian side of the LAC.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prominently cited the Sino-India border stand-off to assert that the Chinese Communist Party’s military advances are for real. The US can be good partners with allies from India, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil and Europe, he offered while stating that China’s threats, like the one on its border with India, have been happening “for an awfully long time”.

“They will certainly use a tactical situation on the ground to their advantage,” he said while answering a query during a TV interview on the aggressive Chinese behaviour on the Sino-India border and the South China Sea. “We can be good partners alongside them and ensure that the next century remains a Western one modelled on the freedoms that we have here in the US,” he added.

India had earlier sidestepped US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate on the LAC stand-off by pointing out that it would continue to rely on bilateralism.

In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Office also said the two countries are capable of resolving border issues through dialogue and negotiations at military and diplomatic levels. Both India and China have said there are committed to safeguarding national security and stability in along the LAC.