China also sees the exercise near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as a US effort to meddle in border affairs between India and China. Responding to questions about China’s objections, the foreign affairs ministry (MEA) said India had not given a “veto” to any third country over who to conduct a military exercise. The exercise has nothing to do with bilateral agreements, the government said.
“But since these have been raised by the Chinese side, I must stress that the Chinese side needs to reflect and think about its violation of the 1993 and 1996 agreements,” MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi said. “India wields whoever it chooses and does not veto third countries on these issues.”
Beijing previously raised the issue with New Delhi saying the joint military exercise held by India and the United States near the LAC violated the “spirit of the relevant agreements” signed by China and India in 1993 and 1996 and did not help build confidence. bilateral.
The 1993 agreement deals with the maintenance of peace and tranquility along the LAC, while the 1996 pact concerned military-related confidence-building measures along the LAC with China in the “India-China border areas”.
Asked about protests in parts of China against a prolonged lockdown to contain Covid infections, Bagchi said he would not comment on specific pandemic strategies pursued by any country. “Hopefully humanity as a whole will be able to fully emerge from Covid soon. But to the extent specific Covid strategies each country might pursue, I might not want to get into that. I just…hope we are doing able to get out of the Covid,” he said.
