The Union government is considering lifting restrictions imposed in 2020 on Chinese companies bidding for Indian government contracts, the Congress alleged on Friday citing a Reuters report.
The report quoting unidentified officials, cited by the Congress, said that the Union finance ministry is planning to scrap the restrictions in view of “reduced border tensions”.
One of the officials told Reuters on Thursday that work was underway to remove requirements for Chinese bidders to register with a government committee. However, the officials were quoted as saying that the decision would require approval from the Prime Minister’s Office.
On Friday, Congress’ communications head Jairam Ramesh described the decision as a reversal of India’s China policy and demanded an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament.
“This move follows earlier decisions allowing Chinese firms to invest in India’s electronics sector, liberally granting visas to Chinese workers, and comes amid a continuing rise in India’s record trade deficit with China,” Ramesh said on social media.
He said that the report about the restrictions being lifted had come just eight months after Beijing provided what he described as “full military backing (and fronting)” to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May, and after China was publicly described by the Indian military as one of its adversaries during the four-day conflict.
Ramesh alleged that the government proposal was part of a broader set of recommendations attributed to the NITI Aayog aimed at removing restrictions on Chinese trade and investments in India.
“This is nothing short of a calibrated capitulation to Chinese aggression, born out of the prime minister’s own weakness – as demonstrated most shamefully by his public clean chit to China on June 19, 2020,” Ramesh said.
Border tensions between India and China escalated in June 2020 when a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control. It led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.
Ramesh’s comment was an apparent reference to Modi’s claim on June 19, 2020, that Chinese soldiers had not entered Indian territory and no Indian posts had been taken over during the face-off.
The Congress leader said on Friday that the “humiliating kowtowing” was taking place despite what he described as continuing challenges along the Line of Actual Control, including restrictions on Indian soldiers from accessing traditional patrolling areas in the region, China’s military presence in eastern Ladakh, tensions over Arunachal Pradesh and Beijing constructing the Medog dam on the Brahmaputra river.
Beijing refers to Arunachal Pradesh as Zangnan. It lays territorial claims over a large portion of the state, claiming that it is “South Tibet”. India has rejected China’s claims.
Following the military face-off in eastern Ladakh in June 2020, both countries deployed thousands of soldiers along with heavy artillery in the region.
New Delhi imposed trade restrictions that required Chinese companies seeking Indian government contracts to register with a committee, and secure political and security clearances.
Since the Galwan clashes, China and India have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve their border standoff.
In October 2024, the two countries announced that they had reached a patrolling arrangement along the Line of Actual Control, “leading to the disengagement” of the two militaries in eastern Ladakh.
Initial rounds of disengagement occurred at several points of tension, including Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Pangong Tso, but Demchok and Depsang had remained points of contention.
In July, the Indian Army said that Pakistan had been receiving real-time intelligence from China about India’s important military deployments during the four-day conflict in May.
Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh, the deputy Army chief (capability development and sustenance), had said that India was effectively up against three adversaries during the conflict with Pakistan leading the front, China offering extensive support and Turkey playing an important role by providing drones “along with trained individuals who were there”.
Also read: Modi in China: New détente or a progressive trajectory?
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