China Blasts India for 'Provocations' at Border

China has blamed India for provoking trouble at their disputed border as the military standoff between the People's Liberation Army and the Indian Army entered another year.

Col. Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Defense Ministry, told a monthly press conference in Beijing on Thursday that the resposibility for ongoing political tensions between the two Asian giants "lies entirely with the Indian side."

A buildup of conventional forces at their shared Himalayan border is being facilitated and reinforced by the construction of permanent infrastructure on both sides. The mutual moves to gain a strategic geographical advantage intensified after a deadly clash in 2020 in the Galwan Valley, which is in the Ladakh region in India's northwest.

China, whose maps claim the area as part of its territory, said the valley is located "on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control." Wu said the melee, which resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops, was "entirely caused by India's violation of consensus and its unilateral provocations."

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's external affairs minister, has repeatedly linked political ties with Beijing to the situation at the border; a peaceful resolution there, he says, could help put the relationship back on track.

"It is unwise and inappropriate for the Indian side to link the boundary issue with overall relations. This approach is against the shared interests of the two countries," said Wu, whose comments appeared to speak to China's desire to stabilize its southern border amid a global great power rivalry with the United States and other Western nations.

"We hope the Indian side can work with the Chinese side towards the same goal, enhance strategic mutual trust, properly handle differences, and safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas," Wu said.

Since the last serious casualties were reported at the LAC over three years ago, military commanders from India and China have held some 20 rounds of dialogue with the stated aim of deescalating and building confidence, and eventually of disengaging their armies at four flashpoints, including the Galwan Valley.

But the border area remains unstable, with both sides positioning themselves strategically on the otherwise inhospitable terrain, near ravines and on snow-capped mountain peaks.

Manoj Joshi, a distinguished fellow with the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi, said in an analysis this week that the presence of armed forces on either side of the border raises concerns about the potential for escalation and deeper crises, despite a prohibition on the use of firearms remaining in place.

On Thursday, Communist Party liaison chief Liu Jianchao, who is tipped to become China's new foreign minister, met India's ambassador to Beijing, Pradeep Kumar Rawat.

Liu urged both sides to address each other's core concerns and emphasized the importance of cooperation and coexistence over differences.

The Indian government has hinted at the possibility of easing scrutiny on Chinese investments if tensions at the border remain under control, Reuters reported on Friday.

In the China-U.S. Focus website this week, regional specialist Hu Shisheng accused India is unfairly targeting Chinese companies.

"The worsening of relations with China is the underlying factor behind India's desire to accelerate industrial substitution with respect to China. In other words, the security logic has superseded the market logic," wrote Hu, who is the director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the Chinese State Security Ministry-linked China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"Since Galwan, any and all bilateral issues have been turned into matters of security at will," Hu said.