United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said that China took “incredibly aggressive action” in the June 15 clashes at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, which claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian personnel in the worst violence on the border since 1975, reported PTI. Pompeo said India did its best to respond to the situation.
“I have spoken with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar a number of times about this,” Pompeo said when asked about the ongoing tension between both the countries. “The Chinese took incredibly aggressive action and the Indians have done their best to respond to that.”
On Monday, India and China had pulled back troops from the site of the faceoff. While China also lost personnel, it has not yet disclosed figures. A buffer zone has reportedly been created between the soldiers of both countries.
He added that the world must come together to respond to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “increasing revisionist effort” with its neighbours. He said US President Donald Trump has taken a serious note of this, unlike previous administrations. Beijing has a pattern of instigating territorial disputes and the world should not allow this bullying, he added.
“There aren’t many neighbours that can satisfactorily say that they know where their sovereignty ends and the Chinese Communist Party will respect that sovereignty,” Pompeo added. “That is certainly true now for the people of Bhutan as well.”
Pompeo said the US had also attempted to communicate to the Chinese leadership about the problems. “When I say we, it is not just the United States but we will shortly start a dialogue with the EU [European Union] friends on how we collectively can respond to this challenge from the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.
Pompeo also said the world has seen the “true colours” of the Chinese Communist Party. “I am convinced now than ever before that the free people of the world will come to understand the threat that is presented, not only internally, inside of China, but importantly the impact that general secretary Xi has on the world is not good,” he added. “The world will come together to respond in a way that is powerful and important and will preserve sovereign nations operating under the rule of law and the way we have all become accustomed to, and benefits people all across the world.”
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