Prime Minister Narendra Modi must immediately withdraw the clean chit given to China and set a deadline for removing the Chinese army from Indian territories, the Congress said on Saturday, a day after the Pentagon’s latest annual report revealed that China has been undertaking “incremental and tactical actions to press its claims”.
At a press conference in Delhi, party spokesperson Pawan Khera said that in June 2020, when BJP MP from Arunachal East Tapir Gao wrote letters to Mr. Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh warning them about Chinese forces constructing permanent structures in Indian territory, the Government went into denial.
‘Truth not told’
“It has been 17 months since Mr. Modi gave a clean chit to China. That is a dark chapter in Indian history. Emboldened by the clean chit, the Chinese have been claiming to the world that it did not transgress into Indian territory,” Mr. Khera stated. The Government had refused to come clean on the Indo-China situation. Even in the last year all-party meeting, it did not tell the truth, he alleged.
Now, the Pentagon’s annual report, “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China”, had confirmed Mr. Gao’s warnings and reports in the Indian media. The report, presented to U.S. Congress, stated that China had constructed a 100-home civilian village inside the disputed territory between the Tibet Autonomous Region and Arunachal Pradesh last year. The village was on the banks of the Tsari Chu river, which had been under Beijing’s control.
“The report points out that it is a ‘dual use’ village with multi-storey structures. These can be used as a civilian village and also double up as an army cantonment,” Mr. Khera noted.
Since the tension escalated on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Indo-China business had increased by 67 per cent. “This increase in business comes after the sham of initial months when the Government went around banning the Chinese-run mobile applications,” he observed.
“It is high time Mr. Modi withdrew the clean chit he gave to China. He should also set a deadline when his Government will be able to restore the status quo ante of April 2020 at the LAC,” he added.
