China now invokes border pacts it flouted, protests India-US wargames near LAC

India and the US will kick-start an over two-week-long mega military exercise in Uttarakhand's Auli in October amid the fast-evolving regional security scenario

Beijing on Thursday protested against the ongoing and forthcoming military drills between India and the United State in the Himalayas – invoking the same border agreements New Delhi accused it of flouting.

“We firmly oppose any third party to meddle in the China-India border issue in any way,” Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense of the Chinese Government, told journalists in Beijing on Thursday. He was replying to a query on China’s view on India-US military drills.

He argued that the agreements signed by China and India in 1993 and 1996 had barred each side from conducting military exercises against the other in areas near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between the two nations.

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India has been alleging that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) blatantly violated the 1993 and 1996 agreement by amassing a large number of troops along the LAC in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020. The Indian Army too had to respond with counter deployment, resulting in a stand-off, which could not be resolved yet.

The tension between Beijing and Washington D.C. too of late escalated after the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taipei on August 2 last, defying warnings from China. Beijing called her to visit as a move by the US to undermine the sovereignty of China and responded by launching military drills around Taiwan.

The soldiers of the special forces of India and the US are currently holding a joint exercise at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh – not very far from the disputed boundary between India and China. The 13th edition of the India-US Exercise Vajra Prahar commenced on August 8 and will conclude on August 29.

The annual drill is aimed at sharing best practices and experiences in joint mission planning and operational tactics as well as improving interoperability between the special forces of both nations.

The Indian Army and the US Army will also hold another military drill – Exercise Yudh Abhyas – at the high-altitude area in Auli in Uttarakhand from October 4 next.

China always stressed that military cooperation of relevant countries, especially on exercises and training activities, should not be targeted at any third party, but rather serve to help maintain regional peace and stability, the spokesperson of the Chinese Government said in Beijing.

New Delhi dismissed Beijing’s protest, pointing out that the India-US military drills were not targeted against any third country.

The 1993 agreement had been signed when then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao visited Beijing and met Chinese Premier Li Peng. It had for the first time officially recognized the LAC as the de facto boundary between the two nations.

The pact is still considered the first major step by India and China to maintain peace and tranquillity along the disputed boundary between the two nations. The two nations, according to the Article II of the pact, had agreed that each side would “keep its military forces in the areas along the LAC to a minimum level compatible with the friendly and good neighbourly relations” between them.

It was followed up by four other pacts, which were signed in 1996, 2005, 2012 and 2013, all intended to ensure peace along the LAC and avert flashpoints.