WORLD

There was an ingress by Chinese troops in Demchok in Ladakh to protest against celebrations of Tibetan religious leader Dalai Lama’s birthday in Indian villages.

The Chinese intruders, according to reports, crossed the Indus to the Indian side to display banners and the Chinese flag. Most Buddhists in Ladakh hold the Dalai Lama in reverence and his winter palace near Leh is kept in a state of constant readiness.

The Indian army refused to comment on the incident. The intrusion was not regarded as serious but part of the Chinese pin-prick tactics in the region. The Chinese obstruct Indian patrols in parts of Demchok area and this is part of the stalled India-China military talks. The latest incident occurred on July 6 at Doley Tango near Koyul, about 30km southeast of Demchok.

For the second time this year, foreign minister S Jaishankar will come face to face with his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Tajikistan’s Dushanbe this week for an SCO meeting that will review the worsening security situation in Afghanistan.

The SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group meeting on July 13-14, which will also be attended by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, is expected to come up with a joint statement on Afghanistan where a hasty US withdrawal has emboldened the rampaging Taliban insurgents.

Afghanistan foreign minister Hanif Atmar is also expected to participate in the meeting. India has used the Contact Group meeting in the past to share its perspectives on the security situation in Afghanistan, including security challenges posed by terrorism and extremism “imposed from beyond its borders”.

Underlining India’s concerns before Russia over the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, foreign minister S Jaishankar called for reduction in violence in Afghanistan saying developments there have implications for regional security and stability.

In a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Jaishankar said that who governs the war-torn country has a “legitimacy aspect” that cannot and should not be ignored.

Media also learnt on Friday that Afghanistan’s chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation who is responsible for peace talks with the Taliban, Abdullah Abdullah, paid a secret visit to India last week. It was apparently a “personal visit” but still significant as it came at a time Afghanistan is faced with a dangerous security situation because of the US troop withdrawal.

The fact that China has not observed bilateral agreements on the border issue has disturbed the foundations of India’s ties with China, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday. Speaking in Moscow, where he will hold talks with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday, Jaishankar said for the last one year, there had been a lot of concern about the relationship because China had not observed agreements that “it had signed up to when it came to our border”.

“After 45 years, we actually had a border incident with casualties. And peace and tranquillity on the border, for any country, is the foundation of a relationship with a neighbour. So naturally the foundationship (sic) has got disturbed, so has the relationship,” said the minister. India and China had last year arrived at a 5-point consensus in Moscow to resolve the LAC stand-off. The disengagement process remains far from complete though despite India repeatedly saying that early and complete disengagement is necessary for overall development of ties. Jaishankar said though that there was no nuclear arms race between India and China.

Expressing shock at the horrific assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Mose, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday offered his condolences to the people of the Caribbean nation. The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, Biden said in a statement minutes before leaving for Illinois from the White House.

"We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Mo?se and the attack on First Lady Martine Mo?se of Haiti," he said.