Congress accuses Modi govt of ‘kowtowing’ to China

The Congress on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar of kowtowing to China following the latter’s recent remarks that “continued normalisation of our ties can produce mutually beneficial outcomes.”

EAM Jaishankar, in a meeting with China’s Vice President Han Zheng on July 14, stated that the India-China bilateral relationship “has been steadily improving since the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan last October” and that “continued normalisation of our ties can produce mutually beneficial outcomes”.

“Of course, this kowtowing to China is unsurprising given the EAM’s beliefs, infamously voiced two years ago in an interview: ‘Look, they are the bigger economy. What am I going to do? As a smaller economy, am I going to pick a fight with the bigger economy?’ His boss, the Prime Minister of the laal aankh, had similarly given a public clean chit to the Chinese with his statement of June 19, 2020, when he said, ‘Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai’ – a blatant lie that the Chinese used globally to cover up their infringement of Indian territory and which hurt our negotiating power immensely," said Rajya Sabha MP and Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh in a statement.

He also referred to recent developments when, during Operation Sindoor, China stood behind Pakistan.

“China gave total support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, turning it into a testing ground for network-centric warfare and weapon systems such as the J-10C fighter and PL-15E air-to-air missile and assorted drones. Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Rahul R. Singh has stated that India fought three adversaries in Sindoor, including China, which gave Pakistan ‘live inputs,’ i.e., real-time intelligence on Indian military operations. Pakistan is likely to acquire Chinese J-35 stealth fighters in the near future," said Ramesh. He also said China has restricted exports to India of critical materials like rare-earth magnets, specialty fertilizers, and tunnel-boring machines for infrastructure projects. “Important sectors like telecoms, pharmaceuticals, and electronics remain critically dependent on Chinese imports, even as the trade deficit with China reaches a record $99.2 billion," he said. He also held China responsible for impeding India’s attempt to become an alternative global supplier of Apple smart phones, saying hundreds of Chinese workers have departed from India’s Foxconn facilities. Referring to the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Ladakh, he said Indian patrols continue to require Chinese concurrence to reach their patrolling points in Depsang, Demchok, and Chumar. “Buffer zones in Galwan, Hot Spring, and Pangong Tso lie predominantly within the Indian claim line, preventing our troops from accessing points to which they had unrestricted access before April 2020," he said. He said the Congress is hoping that a discussion on China would be held in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. “When are the EAM and his boss, the PM, going to take the people of India into confidence and hold a detailed debate on China in Parliament – as the Indian National Congress has been calling for since 2020? The INC hopes that the Prime Minister will finally agree to such a discussion and break the five-year drought in the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament," he said.

He added, “If the Parliament could debate the border situation in November 1962 when the Chinese invasion was at its peak, why can we not discuss it now – especially given that both sides appear to want renormalisation (albeit without necessarily restoring the May 2020 status quo on the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh)?"

He also said it is essential to build a national consensus on the critical security and economic challenges arising from China’s rise as the world’s leading manufacturing power and its position as the second-largest economy, one that may well surpass the United States within a decade.

India