CATASTROPHIC “CHINESE” CALENDAR, COURTESY: ‘CLEAN CHIT’ BY MODI GOVT- Shri Pawan Khera, Chairman, Media & Publicity (Communications Dept), AICC 2022.

New Delhi-12/1/23, “Two heads of states are meeting with such affinity, closeness and companionship, which is ‘plus one’, better than the traditional talks of global relations and to understand and appreciate this ‘plus one’ friendship will take time for many,”

– PM Modi describing his relationship with China’s President Xi Jinping in May 2015 in Shanghai.
“Yesterday Prime Minister as you said, you and I had engaged in candid conversations like friends, heart to heart discussions on bilateral relations,”
– China’s President Xi Jinping in Oct 2019 in Mahabalipuram after delegation level talks.

Cut to 2022, the year when: –

➢ In January, Fresh satellite images emerge of the construction of a bridge on Pangong Tso by China, around 40 km from the LAC in eastern Ladakh (3 January).

In Arunachal Pradesh, the PLA abducted a 17-year-old Indian, Miram Taron, from inside Indian territory in the Lungta Jor area on 18 January. BJP MP Shri Tapir Gao also tweeted that, “China built 3-4 kms road inside India in 2018”. On 26 January, the PLA handed over the boy to the Indian Army.

➢ In February, BJP MP from Arunachal Shri Tapir Gao tells the media that Miram Taron “was beaten up & given electric shocks by PLA” and urges the Modi government “to raise this issue with authorities” (2 February).

On 13 February, the External Affairs Minister Shri Jaishankar in Melbourne (Australia) says that “the current situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has arisen due to the disregard of written agreements by China not to mass soldiers at the border”

He repeats the same message on 4 January 2023 in Vienna, Austria, stating: “India had agreements with China not to amass force on the borders and not to unilaterally change the line of control, which they have tried to unilaterally do and that has resulted in this current tense situation”.

A full year passes but the Modi government fails to make any progress towards restoring the status quo ante on our northern borders.

On 15 February 2022, the Modi government again bans 54 more Chinese apps. It had previously banned 59 Chinese apps in January 2021, following the Galwan attack.

➢ In March, A claim by China’s Foreign Ministry suggests that disengagement between the PLA and the Indian Army has taken place in the Hot Springs area of eastern Ladakh. However satellite images of the area show that PLA military positions remain along the border line claimed by China (18 March). On 25 March, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits India, but the Modi government fails to raise this issue.

➢ In April, India-China trade data showed Indian imports from China were a record US$95 billion in 2021-22 with a record deficit of US$73 billion in China’s favour, even as China continues to deny India, the right to patrol upto 2,000 sq km of Indian territory (13 April).

➢ In May, China builds a second bridge on Pangong Tso lake. Media reports suggest that China is building a ‘bigger, broader’ bridge to support armoured columns (18 May).

➢ In June, the Modi government officially backs China’s plan for joint border operations under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The first proposed activity is called “Solidarity-2023”, to be held in 2023 in China (17 June).

➢ In July, new satellite images show that a Chinese village constructed 9 km east of the Doklam plateau, where Indian and Chinese forces faced off in 2017, is now fully inhabited with cars parked at the doorstep of virtually every home. The Modi government has no to the answer to this salami slicing of 110 sq km of territory by China (20 July).

➢ In August, satellite imagery reveals a PLA surface-to-air missile site just 50 km north of Doklam, where camouflaged activity was observed in March 2022, has become fully operational (1 August).

➢ In September, India and China, in a joint statement, state: “On 8 September 2022, according to the consensus reached in the 16th round of the India China Corps Commander Level Meeting, Indian and Chinese troops in the area of Gogra-Hot Springs (PP-15) have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned way, which is conducive to the peace and tranquility in the border areas.”

But the truth is that –

• China continues to block India’s access to five patrolling points up to the Y-junction in the Depsang Plains — PP10, PP11, PP11A, PP12 and PP13 — along Raki Nalla. Indian patrols are also currently denied access to the Demchok Nalla (Chardingla Nalla).

• Media reports also reveal that the PLA is very “much inside the Indian territory” at PP-15 and PP-17A in Hot Springs and Gogra Post,

• The area denied to Indian patrols ranges from 1,000 sq km (government sources quoted in The Hindu dated 31 August 2020) to 2,000 sq km (Manoj Joshi in Understanding the India-China Border).

➢ In October, China shamelessly plays a video of the Galwan clash in its Communist Party Congress’ Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the presence of President Xi (16 October).

➢ In November, Shri Konchok Stanzin, an independent member of the then BJP-ruled Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council -– the region’s highest elected body -– says the creation of the buffer zones has blocked local people’s access to grazing land for their livestock. “It’s shocking that we are losing our land in the name of creating buffer zones. The Chinese are eating into our territory”, he says.

➢ In December, Chinese troops clash with our soldiers in the Yangtse area of Tawang on 9 December with a view to illegally occupying a 17,000 feet peak. Over 300 Chinese troops make an unprovoked attack aiming to occupy our territory but are successfully repulsed by our brave soldiers.

Coming on the heels of China’s attempted intrusion in Tawang, the Chinese build-up in Doklam up to “Jampheri Ridge” (Zompelri Ridge) that threatens the sensitive Siliguri Corridor – India’s gateway to the Northeast – is of utmost concern for our security.

The Chinese build-up next to Pangong Tso, which included the building of a PLA divisional headquarters, an army garrison, shelters for artillery, anti-aircraft guns and armoured personnel carriers, the construction of a new radome and two high frequency microwave towers also pose a direct threat to India.

In short, our national security and territorial integrity was challenged by China every month in 2022 under the Modi government.

Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi posed some simple questions about Chinese build up to the Modi government, but the ruling party refused to hold any discussions in Parliament.

Despite the supreme sacrifice of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley and India losing thousands of sq km of territory in eastern Ladakh, PM Modi gave a CLEAN CHIT to China and maintained that ‘no one has entered our territory’.

It is important to underline: –

➢ PM Modi has met his Chinese counterpart 18 times since 2014 and we have had 17 rounds of military level talks.
➢ Chinese Imports increased by 45% since Galwan.
➢ Chinese companies donated to the PM CARES fund, and currently 3,560 Indian companies have Chinese directors.
In this context, as the new year begins, we ask three important questions to PM Modi, who called President Xi his “plus one”-
1. Why does China continue to occupy Indian territory up to the Y-junction at Depsang Plains at patrolling points PP10, PP11, PP11A, PP12 & PP13? Why has the status quo ante not been restored after three years?

2. Why does China continue to occupy PP-15 and PP-17A in Hot Springs and Gogra Post?

3. China’s build-up in Doklam up to the “Jampheri Ridge” is threatening India’s strategic Siliguri Corridor — the gateway to Northeast India. Will we have a “CHINA PE CHARCHA” in 2023?