According to a report to the US Congress by the Pentagon, Beijing instructed American officials not to meddle in its dealings with India in a strange instance of bilateral common ground between India and China despite their ongoing tensions. India disagrees with any outside meddling in its ongoing bilateral issues with its neighbors.
Chinese officials apparently minimized the gravity of the problem ever since the Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff between the two sides started. According to a report from the Pentagon on Tuesday, Beijing emphasized its alleged intention to maintain “border stability” and stop the impasse from negatively affecting other facets of its bilateral relationship with India.
“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) seeks to prevent border tensions from causing India to partner more closely with the United States. PRC officials have warned US officials to not interfere with the PRC’s relationship with India,” the Pentagon said in its latest report on Chinese military build-up.
The People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) maintained the deployment of forces and continued infrastructure development along the LAC throughout 2021, according to a section on the China-India border published by the Pentagon. As both parties resisted giving up perceived advantages on the border, the negotiations made little progress, it was said.
China and India faced off in clashes with rocks, batons, and clubs wrapped in barbed wire in May 2020
Chinese and Indian forces clashed in many areas along the LAC beginning in May 2020, using rocks, batons, and clubs covered with barbed wire. Forces were then gathered on both sides of the border as a result of the ensuing standoff.
“Each country demanded the withdrawal of the other’s forces and a return to pre-standoff conditions, but neither China nor India agreed on those conditions,” it said.
“The PRC blamed the standoff on Indian infrastructure construction, which it perceived as encroaching on PRC territory, while India accused China of launching aggressive incursions into India’s territory,” it added.
The PLA has maintained a constant troop presence and continuing infrastructure development along the LAC since the 2020 conflict.
The report stated that the conflict in the 2020 Galwan Valley was the two countries’ worst in 46 years. It said that on June 15, 2020, patrols engaged in a bloody confrontation in Galwan Valley that claimed the lives of an indeterminate number of PLA soldiers and about 20 Indian soldiers.