China has quietly resumed its activities in the Doklam area and neither Bhutan nor India has sought to dissuade it, a top U.S. official has said while comparing Beijing’s actions in the Himalayan region with its manoeuvres in the disputed South China Sea.
“I would assess that India is vigorously defending its northern borders and this is a subject of concern to India,” Alice G Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing while responding to a question on China’s increased road building activities along the Indian border.
“As (India) ahead to its own strategic stability, it certainly helps drive and is a factor in driving closer partnership that we enjoy with India,” Wells said in response to a question from Congresswoman Ann Wagner.
India and China have clashed repeatedly over territories in the Himalayas. Most recently Chinese and Indian troops faced off on the disputed Doklam plateau between Bhutan and China after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army began building roads through the area, Wagner said.
“Although both countries backed down, China has quietly resumed its activities in Doklam and neither Bhutan nor India has sought to dissuade it…How should our failure to respond to the militarisation of the South China Sea inform the international response to these Himalayan border disputes?” Wagner asked.
Also Read: India and China can’t take another Doklam episode: Chinese envoy
As the U.S. looks to the Indo-Pacific strategy put forward by the Trump administration, Wells said it has been taken in light of the ‘South China Sea’s Strategy’, “How do we maintain the region to be open, to have maritime security, to not have militarisation that would imperil the 70 per cent of global trade?” she asked.
“We need to do that by giving authority to sovereign nations to have choices in how they develop, to have choices in their partnerships,” Wells said.
Post Your Comments