India will not allow China to unilaterally change LAC: S Jaishankar

Amid border row with China, EAM S Jaishankar said that India has deployed the army to counter any Chinese aggression.

New Delhi, Dec 19: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that India will not allow any country to unilaterally change Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Indian Army is deployed on China border to counter Chinese aggression.

"We will not let any country, in this case China, change LAC unilaterally," he is quoted as saying at a media conclave. It comes 10 days after Indian Army had a face off with Chinese Army in n Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang.

"Today, you have a deployment of the Indian Army on China border that we never had. It is done to counter Chinese aggression. The Indian Army today is deployed to counter any attempt to unilaterally change LAC. That is the obligation of the Indian state and duty of the Indian Army," Jaishankar added.

Armed with spiked clubs, over 200 soldiers of the Chinese PLA clashed with the Indian soldiers on December 9. India and China are already locked in a tense stand-off along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi targeted the government alleging that China is preparing for war and the Indian government is sleeping over it and trying to ignore the threat. He also alleged that China has taken away 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory, killed 20 Indian soldiers and is "thrashing our jawans in Arunachal Pradesh".

"I can see the threat of China very clearly. I have been clear on this for the last two-three years, but the government is trying to hide it and ignore it. This threat can neither be hidden or ignored. Going by their full offensive preparation that is on in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, the Indian government is asleep," PTI quoted him as saying at a press conference.

On Increase in Trade with China

On asking about the increase in trade with China despite repeated clashes, S Jaishankar pointed out that India depended on China in the last three decades and it cannot be reversed in 5-10 years. "What happened after 1990s when we opened our economy in a manner in which we did not use our openness to strengthen our MSE sector. They found it difficult to compete with economies having greater imports, bigger scale and systematic support. We did not built our supply chain. There are imports coming out of China because, for 30 years, you did not give support to the industries it needed," he added.

Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday slammed the PM Modi government over recent Arunachal border face-off, accusing the Centre of "rewarding" China with high volumes of imports instead of "punishing" it for incursions into India. He claimed that while Chinese aggression is increasing at the border, the BJP-led Centre says "everything is alright". Instead of "retaliating and punishing" China, the Modi government is "rewarding" Beijing by allowing an increase in imports of Chinese goods even though many Indian soldiers put their lives while fighting Chinese troops, he claimed, according to a report in the news agency.

Kejriwal pointed out that India imported Chinese goods worth USD 65 billion in 2020-21. "Then China again showed a much bigger eye (to India) and the BJP government let the import of Chinese goods further increase to USD 95 billion next year," he claimed.