India and China on Monday signed its first agreement on security cooperation in New Delhi amid reports that Union Minister of State for Home and Arunachal Pradesh legislator Kiren Rijiju’s presence at the event indicated new posturing by New Delhi, according to NDTV.
China claims the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory and calls it South Tibet. Rijiju’s presence gains significance amid China’s objections to matters related to the state. Until Monday, New Delhi had purportedly kept Rijiju on the sidelines with regard to bilateral events with China. The minister of state was absent from delegation-level discussions during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India in September 2014. He also missed the President of India’s state banquet for his Chinese counterpart during that visit.
The Indo-China agreement was signed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and China’s State Councillor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi. The deal focuses on the improvement and consolidation of assistance in counter-terrorism, organised crimes, drug control, human trafficking and exchange of information.
The home minister said he had a fruitful meeting with Zhao. “We discussed issues of mutual interest, including bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation,” Singh tweeted.
In 2017, India was locked in a 74-day military standoff with China at the Doklam sector in Sikkim. The Doklam plateau is located near the tri-junction of India, Bhutan and China. Both Bhutan and China claim it as their territory.
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