India-China Tensions All-Party Meet: Prime Minister Modi To Discuss China Situation With At Least 20 Parties

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Jun 19 2020, 4:26 PMJun 19 2020, 4:29 PMJune 19 2020, 4:26 PMJune 19 2020, 4:29 PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today will chair an all-party meet to discuss the ongoing geopolitical tensions with China.

At least 20 political parties are likely to be attending the all-party meet that is scheduled to start at 5 p.m., ANI has reported. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President JP Nadda are also expected to present in the virtual meeting.

ANI said that only recognised national parties with over five members in the Lok Sabha, leading parties from northeast India and union cabinet ministers had been invited. Parties with limited regional presence like the Aam Aadmi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal have been excluded.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh. The face-off, which happened earlier this week, saw at least 20 Indian soldiers killed.

The two countries have now agreed to not escalate the conflict any further and have started disengaging from the area.

Earlier today, China released 10 Indian soldiers that were captured during the violent clashes, Bloomberg reported citing senior Indian officials. The Indian government had on Thursday said that no soldiers were missing in action. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry too had denied holding any Indian personnel captive.

ANI also reported that the Indian Air Force Chief Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria was on a visit to Leh and Srinagar airbases amid the ongoing dispute.

Follow updates from the all-party meeting here.

10:25 AM

Silence Of The Neighbours

Amid a serious escalation of tensions with China following the first fatalities along their contested border in more than four decades, a surging epidemic and an economy heading for recession, the silence of India’s traditional regional allies and partners like Bangladesh and Nepal has been deafening.

Modi’s ‘Neighborhood First’ policy, which helped settle border disputes with Bangladesh and smoothed ties with Sri Lanka and Bhutan in his first term, has frayed in his second term.

His government’s focus on driving a hard-line Hindu nationalist agenda has alienated some traditional standbys and has made long-time trade and security partners uncomfortable.

The seeds of the current border crisis and the unraveling of some regional partnerships were likely sown last November.

Also read: China Is Foolish To Make An Enemy Of India

10:21 AM

Trade, Investments, Startups And More

As border tensions between India and China flared up with the deadliest clash in more than four decades, leaving at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, there have been calls for boycotting goods imported from the neighbouring nation. That, however, won’t be easy because the two economies are intertwined.

China is Asia’s largest economy and the world’s second-biggest with a GDP of about $13.6 trillion. India is No. 3 in Asia at $2.7 trillion. From supplying industrial components and raw materials to investments in India’s startups and technology firms, China is India’s biggest trading partner after the U.S.

BloombergQuint takes a look at the bilateral economic ties here.