China Angrily Denounces Joint US-India Drills Near Contested ‘Line of Actual Control’

China on Thursday expressed its anger over joint US-India military drills in a southern region of the Himalayas that Beijing officials say violates prior bilateral agreements regarding the contested border.

Beijing has slammed the drills as third party “meddling” along its border, citing that it previously inked agreements with India to not hold provocative military exercises near the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Despite over a dozen peace talks occurring since a June 2020 border clash between Indian and Chinese forces, which left over 20 Indian soldiers dead, tensions have continued to soar in the contested region. 

File image via PTI/IndiaTV

China’s defense ministry issued a scathing denouncement of US military operators reportedly being near the LAC, saying, “We firmly oppose any third party to meddle in the China-India border issue in any form.”

The PLA spokesman was further questioned on another planed US-India joint exercise: 

Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defence (MND), made the comments while replying to question about reports of special forces of the US and India recently holding a joint combat exercise in the southern foothills of the Himalayas and their plans to conduct a joint military exercise code-named “War Exercise” (Yudh Abhyas) in October close to the border.

He continued, “It is hoped that the Indian side will strictly abide by the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and the relevant agreements, uphold its commitment to resolving border issues through bilateral channels, and maintain peace and tranquility in the border area with practical actions.”

India is a member of the “Quad” nations – a regional security pact also made up of Japan, the United States, and Australia. Last week India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said it was the Chinese side that’s a frequent violator of Line of Actual Control truce agreements that stretch back to the 1990s.

“They (Chinese) have disregarded that. You know what happened in the Galwan Valley a few years ago. That problem has not been resolved and that is clearly casting a shadow,” Jaishankar said on Saturday.

Simultaneously, on the clear other side of China the US has been in a simmering standoff with the PLA Navy which has had heavy deployments surrounding Taiwan ever since Nancy Pelosi’s visit in early August.