New Delhi: India yesterday raised with China the statement of a Chinese general warning India against stirring up “new trouble” on the border and was told that it was “not reflective” of the official view.
India’s reaction followed a statement by Major General Luo Yuan to reporters in Beijing that the “Indian side should not provoke new problems and increase military deployment at the border areas and stir up new trouble”.
Luo, deputy director general of the world military research department at a People’s Liberation Army academy, was quoted as saying that “India is the only country in the world that says that it is developing its military power because of China’s military threat”.
“So, I believe that India should be very cautious in what it does and what it says.”
Official sources in New Delhi said the “matter of statement by Chinese general was promptly raised by India with China”.
The Chinese side said they were looking forward to the Indian defence minister’s visit and were “conveyed understanding that the statement is not reflective of Chinese official view”.
Luo also said that “there is still problem of 90,000 square kilometres of territory still occupied by the Indian side. These are the problems left over from history and we should look at it with cool head”.
His comments came as Indian Defence Minister A K Antony led a high-level delegation to China yesterday, the first such trip in seven years.
Antony will meet his Chinese counterpart General Chang Wanquan during the three-day visit, with talks to include peace on their shared border as well as regional security issues, the defence ministry said.
“Both ministers are expected to discuss a number of issues, including those related to maintenance of peace and tranquillity on the border... and matters relating to regional and global security,” said an official statement.
The visit coincides with a five-day trip by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to China, his first foreign visit since his May election.
Antony’s trip is the first by an Indian defence minister since 2006 and comes after a spat between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in May over troop movements in a disputed Himalayan border region.
Delhi alleged Chinese troops intruded nearly 20 kilometres into Indian-claimed territory, triggering a three-week stand-off that was resolved after talks between local military leaders, and a withdrawal of troops from both sides.
The Line of Actual Control has never been formally demarcated, although the sides have signed accords to maintain peace in the region that was the site of a brief Indo-Chinese war in 1962.
Antony was also likely to hold negotiations on a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement, a new mechanism suggested by China last year for improving border security, an official said.
His delegation includes the defence secretary and top military commanders.
The trip comes after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged to build trust with India, declaring that ties between the Asian giants were key to world peace, during a visit to New Delhi in May.
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