Congress attacks Centre over China issue

New Delhi, Dec 20 : The Congress on Tuesday launched a fresh attack on the BJP led-government at the Centre over the India-China border situation. Party’s General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday posed a volley of questions to External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on China.
“The EAM claims that relations with China are ‘not normal’. Then why have we never called the Chinese Ambassador and issued a démarche as we do with the Pakistan High Commissioner? Why is our trade dependence on China at a record high with imports at $95 billion in 2021-22 and the trade deficit at $74 billion? Why did our troops conduct military exercises with Chinese troops at Russia’s Vostok-22 exercise in September ?,” the Congress MP said while reacting to the Minister’s remarks on China on Monday.
He added, “The EAM says that we will not let China change the status of the LAC ‘unilaterally’. Has the status quo not been altered by Chinese troops 18 km deep in Depsang for the last two years ? Is it not altered by the fact that our troops are unable to access 1,000 sq km of territory in eastern Ladakh that they earlier patrolled? Is it not altered by the fact that we have agreed to buffer zones that prevent our patrols from going to areas they previously could go to? When will the EAM unequivocally declare that restoration of the pre-2020 status quo is our objective ?.” “When will we stop legitimising Chinese aggression by referring to ‘differences in perception’ rather than asserting our claim?,” he asked. The Congress has been demanding discussion over the India-China border situation in the ongoing Winter session of Parliament.