Double standards: At UNSC, India's indirect dig at China over common security

New Delhi, Aug 23: India on Monday took a dig at China at the UN Security Council during a discussion on promoting common security through dialogue and cooperation. Though India's envoy to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, didn't name any country, it was obvious which country the remarks referred to.

The meeting was convened at the behest of China, the president of the Security Council for August, and Kamboj noted that one of the guiding questions posed by the presidency for the meeting is what constitutes "common security".

"Any coercive or unilateral action that seeks to change the status quo by force is an affront to common security. Further, common security is only possible when countries respect each others' sovereignty and territorial integrity, as they would expect their own sovereignty to be respected," Kamboj said.

She further added that common security is only feasible when all countries stand together against common threats such as terrorism and do not engage in 'double standards'.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday that the relationship between India and China is going through an "extremely difficult phase" after what Beijing has done at the border and emphasised that the Asian Century will not happen if the two neighbours could not join hands.

Responding to a question, Jaishankar said that the Asian Century will happen when China and India come together but the Asian Century will be difficult to happen if India and China could not come together.

"At the moment (the India-China) relationship is going through an extremely difficult phase after what China did at the border," he said.

Chinese and Indian troops are engaged in a prolonged standoff in Eastern Ladakh. The two sides have so far held 16 rounds of Corps Commander Level talks to resolve the standoff which erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.

In June, Kamboj, 58, was appointed India's first woman Permanent Representative to the UN. A 1987 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, she was previously Ambassador of India to Bhutan, and succeeded Ambassador T S Tirumurti.