'China needs to reflect on its own breach of agreements': India stings Beijing

China had raised objection to the ongoing Indo-US military exercise which is being held near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), saying that it violates the spirit of the two border agreements signed between New Delhi and Beijing.

New Delhi, Dec 01: India on Thursday rejected Chinese objection to the joint Indo-US military exercises being held in Auli of Uttarakhand near the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

"Let me emphasise that the exercises that are going on with the US in Auli have nothing to do with the 1993 and 1996 agreements," external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a weekly media briefing.

"But since these [exercises] were raised and we are talking about them and it was raised by the Chinese side, let me emphasise that the Chinese side needs to reflect and think about its own breach of these agreements of 1993 and 1996," he said.

China had raised objection to the ongoing Indo-US military exercise which is being held near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), saying that it violates the spirit of the two border agreements signed between New Delhi and Beijing.

"The joint military exercise between India and the US close to the LAC at the China-India border violates the spirit of the agreement between China and India in 1993 and 1996," PTI quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian as saying during a media briefing.

"It does not serve the mutual trust between China and India", he said in response to a question posed by a correspondent from Pakistan.

India and the United States are holding the 18th edition of Indo -US joint training exercise 'Yudh Abhyas 22' in Uttarakhand's Auli. It is an exercise conducted annually between India and the US with the aim of exchanging best practices, tactics, techniques and procedures between the armies of the two nations. Last year, it was conducted at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska (USA) in October 2021.

It is interesting to note that India had termed the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) attempts to move a large number of troops to the disputed areas in the LAC in eastern Ladakh in May 2020 violated the bilateral agreements which state that the boundary question is resolved through peaceful and friendly consultations.