New Delhi: India has firmly rejected US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate in its ongoing border tensions with China, reaffirming its commitment to a bilateral approach in resolving such disputes.
India resolutely rejected American President Donald Trump’s proposal for mediating between it and China in its continuing border tensions with China, as it reaffirmed its adherence to a bilateral system in the solving of such situations.
“Whatever problems we have with any of our neighbors, we have always taken a bilateral approach to addressing these problems”, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a press conference after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day trip to the U.S.
President Trump, at a joint press conference with Modi, accepted the clashes along the India-China border as ‘quite vicious’ and was concerned that they continue. “If I could be helpful, I’d love to help because that has to be stopped. That’s been going on for a long time, and it’s quite violent”, he said.
This is not the first attempt by Trump at offering mediation. During his initial term, he had also made similar offers with regard to India-China and India-Pakistan issues, all of which India politely turned down. It is being argued by analysts that Trump’s new attempts are due to his desire to seal his legacy as a world peacemaker.
Apart from security issues, trade talks were a major highlight of the visit of Modi. Misri assured that the age-old tariff issue was discussed during the four-hour talks between the two leaders. “Both sides made their points. What is more significant is that now we have a path forward through the exercise to begin negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement”, Misri said.
The two nations had earlier tried to seal a trade agreement when Trump visited India in February 2020, but the negotiators could not agree. In a joint statement issued after the meeting, trade talks will be resumed with a deadline of this fall. We are thinking in the next seven to eight months to finalize this process, and today both teams have got orders from the top to initiate the engagement, Misri added.
In addition, talks broached defense cooperation, such as Trump’s reference to providing India F-35 fighter jets, the most advanced military aircraft in the U.S.-led Western defense alliance. Yet Misri stated that ‘this is at this point in time a proposal’ and that there has not been a formal process yet.
Modi’s visit, which marked a continuation of the strategic partnership between the two nations, underscored India’s firm stance on its sovereignty while opening avenues for deeper economic and defense collaborations.ent.
