China on Thursday urged India to do more to reinforce peace and stability along the border, following reports that New Delhi was deploying advanced cruise missiles in the eastern sector.
“We hope the Indian side can do more for peace and stability in the border region…,” Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian said at a media briefing. He was answering a question on reports that India was deploying the BrahMos cruise missiles, which have a 290-km range, in the eastern sector.
“To maintain peace and stability along the India-China border is an important consensus reached by the two sides,” he said.
The BrahMos can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. A result of India-Russia collaboration, the missile was inducted in the Army in 2007 and was being tested for induction in the Su-30 fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Col. Wu’s remarks scaled down observations in a commentary that appeared in PLA Daily , which said India’s decision to deploy 100 missiles of an upgraded version in the northeast exceeded its defence needs and posed a “serious” threat to Tibet and Yunnan. “This news has gained widespread attention. India’s move to deploy missiles on the national boundary has already exceeded its defence needs and poses a serious threat to Tibet and Yunnan,” it said. “The deployment of the BrahMos missile is bound to increase the competition and antagonism in the China-India relations and will have a negative impact on the stability of the region,” it observed.
The controversy precedes the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Hangzhou next month for a meeting of the G-20 countries. He is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit.
Mr. Modi will reach Hangzhou after visiting Vietnam, which has expressed its interest in buying the BrahMos missiles. India is free to export these missiles as it has got the membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime.
Vietnam has close economic ties with China, but tensions between the two countries have been growing on account of their differences over their maritime boundaries in the South China Sea.
