April 23, 2023
2 mins read

China’s Defence Minister to attend SCO meet in India

Following the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes, this is the first time that a Chinese Defence Minister will visit India….reports Asian Lite News

Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu is scheduled to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting planned to be held in the ensuing week, defence officials said.

The Pakistani side is yet to confirm their participation in the meeting, they said. The SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting is scheduled to be held on April 27 and 28.

Following the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes, this is the first time that a Chinese Defence Minister will visit India.

Li Shangfu, a US-sanctioned general, was named as China’s new Defence Minister a month ago. Li has been under US sanctions since 2018 and his appointment comes at a time of increasingly strained relations between Beijing and Washington, reported CNN.

Li Shangfu, an aerospace expert, was voted unanimously by the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress to replace outgoing defence chief Wei Fenghe.

China and India have a long history of border transgressions and a recent one was witnessed in December 2022 in Arunachal Pradesh. Regarding the same, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on December 13, 2022, informed both Houses of parliament that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops tried to transgress the Line of Actual Control in the Yangtse area of Arunachal Pradesh Tawang Sector and unilaterally change the status quo but they went back to their locations due to timely intervention of Indian military commanders.

The scuffle led to injuries to a few personnel on both sides and there are no fatalities or serious casualties on our side, Rajnath Singh had said.

Prior to that, a clash was witnessed in Galwan in June 2020 when the Chinese troops tried to aggressively change the status quo on LAC in eastern Ladakh. The clash took place along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh following a standoff over the actions of the Chinese Army. Twenty Indian soldiers died in the Galwan Valley clash which was fought in hand-to-hand combat in sub-zero temperatures on the near pitch-black night of June 15 and June 16, 2020.

The clash was the deadliest confrontation between India and China in over four decades. China’s state media has almost entirely failed to cover the skirmish or its aftermath.

However, after the Galwan clash in 2020, several rounds of military and diplomatic talks have taken place to resolve the standoff. Disengagement at some border points did take place but by and large, there is an impasse on complete disengagement.

Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement in February 2021 to disengage from the 135-km Pangong Lake, creating buffer zones until all outstanding border issues are resolved, Sputnik, a Russian-based media agency reported earlier. Over 50,000 Indian soldiers had been stationed since 2020 at forward posts along the LAC, with advanced weapons to prevent any attempts to change the status quo unilaterally on the LAC.

After the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting, a meeting of the Foreign Minister is scheduled to be held on May 5 in Goa. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is all set to take part in the same.

The SCO member countries are India, Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Pakistan’s state-owned entities are the worst in South Asia

Previous Story

Former PM warns of military takeover in Pakistan

Next Story

G20 TOURISM MEET IN SRINAGAR: A Step Towards Kashmir’s Revival

Latest from -Top News

EU Lawmaker Slams US Trade Deal

US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced earlier in the day that they had reached a trade agreement…reports Asian Lite News A top EU lawmaker has

Killing Fields of Gaza

While Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue to dominate global headlines after hundreds of days of conflict, a parallel and equally devastating crisis is unfolding — one that receives far less attention: deepening

EU, China United on Climate, Split on Rest

Climate pact offers rare unity as trade rifts, Ukraine war, and economic tensions dominate EU-China summitChina and the European Union struck a rare note of unity on climate change Thursday, issuing a

Hungary Pays the Trump Price

Despite his success in wooing Trump’s conservative base, Hungary is among the EU nations most vulnerable to Trump’s incoming tariff blitz Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has spent years forging close

Meta Muzzles Election Ads

Meta to Halt Political Ads in EU, Citing Legal Uncertainty Over New Rules Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, announced on Friday that it will suspend all political advertising
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Namibia Gets Chinese Help

China-aided infrastructure project boosts Namibia’s gateway position China-aided projects continue

US cannot afford to cut Pak ties: Report

The paper warns American policy makers that they cannot afford