United States President Donald Trump on Saturday referred to the heightened tensions between India and China as a “big problem” and said that his country will try to help them resolve the conflict, PTI reported.
“We are talking to India and we are talking to China,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for an election rally. “It is a very tough situation. They have come to blows, and we will see what happens. We will try and help them out.”
Last month, Trump had offered to mediate between India and China. Both the countries had refused to accept the US president’s offer.
Trump’s top aide Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, blamed China for the border conflict with India. “The PLA [China’s People’s Liberation Army] has escalated border tensions – we see it today in India... and we watch as it militarizes the South China Sea and illegally claims more territory there,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed and 76 others injured in a violent clash with Chinese forces in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley earlier this week. China did not give an official count of casualties on its side but least 43 Chinese soldiers are believed to have been killed or injured in the clash. The face-off between the two neighbouring countries was the worst instance of violence on the border since 1975.
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The incident marked a massive escalation of border tensions between the two nations, which have been rising through the last month. China has claimed the entire Galwan Valley, including areas currently on India’s side of the Line of Actual Control. India lashed out at China on Saturday, accusing it of trying to “advance exaggerated and untenable claims”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at an all-party meeting to discuss the India-China border situation on Friday, had said that Chinese troops did not enter India’s territory along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, and nor were any Indian posts taken over during the face-off.Opposition leaders and India’s national security experts had raised questions about the prime minister’s claim.
The Centre then accused the Opposition of trying to misinterpret the prime minister’s statement and said that “some quarters” were creating an unnecessary controversy to lower the morale of Indian soldiers.
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