Shortly after PM Narendra Modi said that “no one” entered or occupied Indian territory, Beijing Friday reiterated its claim on the entire Galwan valley in Ladakh and said the region was on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control and had been patrolled by People’s Liberation Army for “many years”.
In what seemed as yet another attempt to needle India, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian issued a statement described as a “step-by-step account of the Galwan valley incident” posting it on the website of Chinese embassy in India shortly before midnight on Friday.
“The Galwan Valley is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in the west section of the China-India boundary. For many years, the Chinese border troops have been patrolling and on duty in this region,” Zhao said in the statement.
China’s PLA western command had in a statement issued on Tuesday initially raised the issue, saying: “The sovereignty of the Galwan River Valley has always been ours.”
On Thursday, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had dismissed the PLA’s claim as “exaggerated and untenable”.
On Monday night, Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a seven-hour violent face-off in Galwan Valley that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and at least 76 injured. Another 10 Indian soldiers held by the Chinese side were reportedly released on Thursday.
The fresh statement from China on Friday further claimed that since April, Indian troops had “unilaterally and continuously built roads, bridges and other facilities at the LAC in the Galwan Valley”.
China made representations and protests on multiple occasions but “India has gone even further to cross the LAC and make provocations”, Zhao said.
Zhao contended Indian troops crossed the LAC by night and trespassed into China’s territory on May 6 and then “built fortification and barricades, which impeded the patrol of Chinese border troops”.
“They deliberately made provocations in an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of control and management. The Chinese border troops have been forced to take necessary measures to respond to the situation on the ground and strengthen management and control in the border areas,” he said.
The statement from China came a few hours after PM Narendra Modi said that “neither have they intruded into our border, nor has any post been taken over by them.”
“20 of our jawans were martyred, but those who dared Bharat Mata, they were taught a lesson,” the PM said.
Referring to a meeting of senior Indian and Chinese military commanders held on June 6, Zhao said the two sides “reached consensus on easing the situation”. He claimed the Indian side “promised that they would not cross the estuary of the Galwan river to patrol and build facilities” and the two sides would discuss and decide the phased withdrawal of troops”.
Zhao claimed that on June 15, Indian troops violated the agreement reached on June 6 and “once again crossed the Line of Actual Control for deliberate provocation…and even violently attacked the Chinese officers and soldiers who went there for negotiation, thus triggering fierce physical conflicts and causing casualties”.
He reiterated various accusations levelled by the Chinese side in recent days about the violation of agreements.
There was no immediate reaction from Indian officials to Zhao’s account.
A readout issued by the external affairs ministry after a phone conversation between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on June 17 had clearly accused Chinese troops of provoking the clash on June 15 by entering the Indian side of the LAC.
The readout had said the Chinese side “sought to erect a structure in Galwan valley on our side of the LAC”. It had added: “While this became a source of dispute, the Chinese side took pre-meditated and planned action that was directly responsible for the resulting violence and casualties. It reflected an intent to change the facts on ground in violation of all our agreements to not change the status quo.”
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India and China are in conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir is still recognised as an independent country, under international law and is still shown as such on the UN maps and the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 47 and 39. Every day for the last 70 years Kashmiris has been killed on the Line Of Control and in their cities by the Indian Security forces. Since August the Kashmiris have been under house arrest and 120000 Kashmiris have been killed by the Indian Army. Under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) the Indian Army in Kashmir can not be prosecuted for the rapes and the murders they commit. Indias only claim for the occupation of Jammu And Kashmir and Ladakh is a fake Instrument of Accession an individual called Harri Singh is alledged to have signed because India claims that his great grandfather Gulab Singh signed the treaty of Amritsar with the British to collect taxes and this gave Harri Singh the authority to ask the Indian Army for assistance when the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces kicked him out of Kashmir. But Article 7 of the Indian Independence Act 1947 states that with the lapse of His Majesty’s suzerainty over the Indian states, all treaties, agreements, obligations, grants, usages and sufferance’s will lapse, therefore the Treaty of Amritsar had already lapsed. (The logic is that why keep the liabilities, if you are giving away the assets) therefore all such powers and authority reverted to the sovereign authority, the people of each state and only they could decide their future through a plebiscite (referendum). Jammu and Kashmir was independent and the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 47 and 39 asked for a plebiscite (referendum) to be held in Jammu and Kashmir where the people could decide their own future but the Indian government refused to let the United Nations hold a plebiscite (referendum) and the Indian Army refused to leave. The removal of Article 370 of the Indian constitution in August 2019 also made the fake Instrument of Accession totally void as India even broke its side of the bargain on the fake Instrument of Accession. China shares a border with the sovereign state of Jammu and Kashmir in Ladakh and not with India. The Kashmiri Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs have been killed along the line of control for over 70 years and need to talk to one another and ask all the armies to leave before Jammu and Kashmir becomes an even bigger battlefield and they suffer even further. Jammu and Kashmir and Asia needs peace. Both Pakistan and China accept that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have the right to choose their own future, under the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 47 and 39. India needs to do the same.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1947/30/pdfs/ukpga_19470030_en.pdf