Monday, 06 January 2025
Monday, 06 January 2025
India on Friday protested against China’s creating two new counties that partly include areas in Ladakh, backed the H1B visa that is under a cloud with the change of guard in the US, and trashed The Washington Post over the newspaper’s reports linking New Delhi to overseas assassinations and government-toppling plots.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India had lodged a "solemn protest" with China over creation of two new counties in Hotan prefecture.
"We have seen the announcement pertaining to the establishment of two new counties in Hotan Prefecture of China. Parts of jurisdiction of these so-called counties fall in India's Union Territory of Ladakh," Jaiswal said at the ministry’s briefing.
"We have never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area," he said.
"Creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India's long-standing and consistent position regarding our sovereignty over the area nor lend legitimacy to China's illegal and forcible occupation of the same.”
China's announcement on establishing the two counties came days after special representatives of the two nations resumed boundary talks that were stalled for almost five years.
"We have lodged a solemn protest with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels," Jaiswal said.
The special representatives on the border issue -- India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China's foreign minister Wang Yi – held talks in Beijing recently. It was the first dialogue under the framework of special representatives in nearly five years.
In the talks, Doval and Wang focused on "positive" direction for cross-border cooperation including resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, river data sharing and border trade.
On China’s plan to build a mega dam on the Brahmaputra river in Tibet, New Delhi urged Beijing to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the river are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.
"We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests," Jaiswal said.
There are apprehensions that the dam – which will be the world's largest and cost around $137 billion – will adversely impact the ecological balance of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam..
"As a lower riparian state with established user rights to the waters of the river, we have consistently expressed, through expert-level as well as diplomatic channels, our views and concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory," Jaiswal said.
"These have been reiterated, along with the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries, following the latest report," he said.
"The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas," he added.
The external affairs spokesperson trashed two recent Washington Post reports, one linking New Delhi to a failed plot to impeach Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and another on Indian agents allegedly attempting to eliminate certain terror elements in Pakistan.
"Both the newspaper and the reporter in question appear to nurse a compulsive hostility towards India. You can see a pattern in their activities. I leave you to judge their credibility. As far as we are concerned, they have none," Jaiswal said.
"As regards [the report on] Pakistan, I remind you of what Hillary Clinton said -- ‘You cannot keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours’," he said.
Clinton had made the comments in a blunt message to Pakistan in 2011, when she was the US secretary of state.
In its report on India's "shadow" operations in Pakistan, The Washington Post, quoting unnamed Pakistani and western officials, claimed that the Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), is carrying out a programme since 2021 to "kill at least a half a dozen people" inside Pakistan.
Asked about Pakistan Deputy PM and foreign minister Ishaq Dar’s recent remark that “it takes two to tango” to improve ties, Jaiswal retorted: "The relevant 'T' word there is 'terrorism,' not 'tango’."
The external affairs ministry spokesperson emphasised the importance of the US H1B visas in strengthening economic ties between the two nations.
"Mobility of skilled professionals is an important component in this collaboration,” Jaiswal said. “India-US economic ties benefit a lot from the technical expertise provided by skilled professionals, with both sides leveraging their strengths and competitive value."
The H1B visa programme is under a cloud. US President-elect Donald Trump has been blowing hot and cold on the programme that many on the American Right think takes away American jobs. Trump’s trusted Elon Musk, however, has backed the programme.
With US NSA Jake Sullivan set to visit India, Jaiswal highlighted the strength of the bilateral relationship,
"This relationship is so strong that continuous discussions keep happening between the two countries...discussion will take place on various topics (between NSA Ajit Doval and US NSA Jake Sullivan)."
On President-elect Donald Trump, he said: "We have a very deep connection with the US. We have a strategic partnership, and in the last few years, this relationship has strengthened further. With the new Trump administration, well, we would like to work strongly."
Jaiswal also said India was “closely following the developments” in the case of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who is facing a death sentence in Yemen.
Priya, from Kollengode in Kerala's Palakkad district, has been found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen in July 2017.
"The government is extending all possible help in the matter," Jaiswal said.
The 37-year-old nurse is lodged in a jail in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.
On Thursday, an Iranian official said Iran will do whatever it can in the case.
The Yemeni national, Talal Abdo Mahdi, reportedly died from an overdose of sedatives allegedly injected by Priya to retrieve her passport from him.
Priya's mother, Prema Kumari, currently in Sana'a, has made an emotional appeal to the Indian government to save her daughter's life.
