Tag: Mark Esper

China Rebukes Outgoing US Envoy Over Remarks on ‘Close Coordination’ With India at LAC

‘We firmly oppose any third party meddling in China-India border issue and hope the US relations with others not target any specific country.’

New Delhi: China on Wednesday protested against the outgoing US envoy’s remarks claiming that there was close cooperation between New Delhi and Washington in managing the ongoing border stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In his farewell speech on Tuesday, US ambassador to India, Ken Juster asserted that no other country, besides the United States, “does as much to contribute to the security of Indians and India”. He then cited the example of the situation in eastern Ladakh, where thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers have been on a stand-off for over seven months.

“Our close coordination has been important as India confronts, perhaps on a sustained basis, aggressive Chinese activity on its border,” stated Juster.

Last year, under the provisions of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, India has procured cold weather clothing system from US on an urgent basis. There were also media reports of US providing real-time information on the position of Chinese military in the region.

The Chinese ambassador dismissed Juster’s statement as interference from a third party. “We have noticed recent remarks with reference to China by the US side. We firmly oppose any third party meddling in China-India border issue and hope the US relations with others not target any specific country,” Sun Weidong stated in a tweet.


This is not the first time that China has rebuked an US administration official for commenting on the India-China stand-off which led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops.

In October 2019, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and US defence secretary Mark Esper had travelled to India to take part in the ‘2+2’ dialogue with their counterparts.

At the press conference, Pompeo had India and US stood “shoulder-to-shoulder in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific for all, particularly in light of increasing aggression and destabilising activities by China”. He had also mentioned the death of the Indian soldiers in the violent-face off with China in Galwan Valley in June.

Chinese embassy had responded that the Pompeo’s words were in violation of “norms of international relations and basic principles of diplomacy”. The statement had added that the boundary question was a bilateral matter between Indian and China and there was “no space for a third party to intervene”.

After Translation Error, US Deletes Reference To ‘Reckless Aggression’ in Rajnath Singh Remarks

If Singh had actually uttered the words, it would have been the first direct, public reference by an Indian leader to the ongoing six-month-long military stand-off with China during the dialogue.

New Delhi: Countries that take diplomacy seriously go to great lengths to produce authenticated English transcripts of all diplomatic interactions and pronouncements made in the public domain so that inaccurate transcriptions or mistranslations do not produce confusions – or worse.

While the Ministry of External Affairs meticulously follows this principle for its statements, the defence ministry clearly does not. As a result, the US State Department and Pentagon ended up putting words into defence minister Rajnath Singh’s mouth this week when they published a transcript of his opening remarks at the recent 2+2 dialogue in which they incorrectly had him referring to “reckless aggression” on the India-China border.

It took three days of media queries — queries which the Indian side tried to downplay — before the US State Department revised its transcript to remove the words which the video recording of the remarks clearly showed Rajnath Singh never made.

On October 27, Indian and US leaders in charge of their country’s foreign and defence portfolios sat down for their annual ‘2+2’ dialogue in New Delhi.

According to a video recording of the opening remarks, Defence minister Rajnath Singh said in Hindi that the partnership between India and the US was becoming more important due to current challenges. “Excellencies, Aaj ke samay mein jo challenges hum face kar rahe hai, uske wajah se humari partnership aur bhi mahatvapurn ho jati hai, aur bhavisya ko (inaudible) adharit karti hai… (The challenges that we are facing currently makes our partnership even more significant and give a future direction),” he said.

However, in the transcript released by the US State Department on October 27, this line does not appear Instead, Singh is quoted as stating, “Excellencies, in the area of defence we are challenged by reckless aggression on our northern borders…” The transcript for Singh’s remarks ends abruptly here, with the rest just deemed ‘inaudible’. This same transcript was also replicated on the US Defence Department’s website.

Also read: New Defence Agreement Done, Trump Administration Sees in India an Ally on China

If Singh had actually referred to “reckless aggression”, it would have been the first direct, public reference by an Indian leader to the ongoing six-month-long military stand-off with China during the dialogue.

Unlike both the US secretaries of State and Defence, Michael Pompeo and Mark Esper, who mentioned China by name in their public remarks, their Indian counterparts made no such explicit comment on their giant neighbour in the north.

The ministry of external affairs had released external affairs minister S. Jaishankar’s opening remarks, but the defence ministry never issued Singh’s statement.

During the weekly briefing on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs was asked to clarify the confusion over Rajnath Singh’s transcribed words. “I am a bit surprised at this question as the video is out in the public domain and I would urge you to look at them,” replied the MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.

The US finally changed the official transcript on October 30. Instead of “reckless aggression at northern borders”, Singh is quoted to have said more staidly, “Due to the challenges that we are facing today, our partnership has become even more important and it determines our future”. A linked footnote at the end of the document stated, “As Delivered in Hindi”.

The US embassy in New Delhi also added that the transcript had been initially made on the basis of the Hindi-to-English interpretation service provided by the Indian side. “The original U.S. transcript of the 2+2 opening statement was prepared from an audio recording of the Indian Government interpreter’s English-language delivery to US participants,” said the US embassy spokesperson.

In the audio of the interpretation, heard by The Wire, the interpreter comes to an abrupt stop after “northern borders”, and does not translate the rest of Singh’s statement in Hindi.

There is still no clear explanation as to how the Hindi words for “challenges that we are facing today” came to be interpreted as “reckless aggression on our northern borders”. One possible theory is that the interpreter was asked to interpret from a written text – which was subsequently revised, but never conveyed to her.

US Launches Airstrikes Against Iran-Backed Militia in Iraq

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has said that President Trump had given him the “authority to do what we need to do consistent with his guidance if that becomes the case.”


The US on Thursday launched airstrikes in Iraq on five weapons storage facilities connected to the Iran-backed Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah. The group is believed to be responsible for the attacks on the Taji military base in Iraq a day earlier, the Pentagon said.

“The United States conducted defensive precision strikes against Kataib Hezbollah facilities across Iraq,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “These weapons storage facilities include facilities that housed weapons used to target the US and coalition troops.”

Three personnel from the US-led coalition in the country were killed in the rocket attacks on Wednesday.

According to an Iraqi military statement, the strikes hit four different locations of the country’s paramilitary forces, police and army around 1:15 am local time.

Also read: Three to Tango: With the US Looming Large, India-Iran Ties Over the Years

The areas hit included Jurf al-Sakher, Al-Musayib, Najaf and Alexandria, where the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units, as well as emergency regiments and commandos of the Iraqi army, are stationed.

An airstrike also hit an airport that was under construction in Karbala, an airport official told Reuters.

Earlier on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that President Donald Trump had given him the “authority to do what we need to do consistent with his guidance if that becomes the case.”

“The United States will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests, or our allies,” Esper said. “As we have demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region.”

The article first appeared on DW. Read the original here.

Pakistan Has No Locus Standi on Kashmir: Rajnath

The defence minister also said that India wants to have a good relationship with Pakistan, but it should stop exporting terror.

Leh: Pakistan has no locus standi on Kashmir and no country is backing it on the “current issue”, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday amid Islamabad’s efforts to internationalise the Centre’s move to read down provisions of Article 370.

Addressing a DRDO event here, Singh asked how can India talk to Pakistan when it keeps trying to destabilise India using terror.

India wants to have a good neighbourly relationship with Pakistan, but it should first stop exporting terror to India, Singh said.

Also read: Not a Reference to Specific UNSC Resolutions: Russia Clarifies Stand on Kashmir

“Pakistan has no locus standi on Kashmir. However, it is in illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including Gilgit Baltistan,” the minister said after inaugurating the ‘Kisan-Jawan Vigyan Mela’.

Parliament had passed a unanimous resolution in February 1994 in which India’s stand had been made clear, Singh said.

“I want to ask Pakistan, when had Kashmir belonged to it. Pakistan was also formed out of India,” he said.

India respects Pakistan’s existence, but that does not mean that it can keep making statements on Kashmir, Singh said.

“Kashmir has been ours, there has been no doubt about that in the country. The truth is that PoK and Gilgit Baltistan is in illegal occupation of Pakistan. Pakistan should focus on addressing human rights violations and atrocities in PoK,” Singh said.

He said US defence secretary Mark Esper during a telephonic conversation told him that dilution of provisions of Article 370 was an internal matter of India.

“No country is with Pakistan on the current issue,” Singh said.

Also read: Kashmiris Note, Javadekar Says Being Unable to Communicate is ‘Worst Punishment’

He also cited Hindi proverb ‘begani shaadi mein Abdullah deewana‘ to assert that Pakistan had nothing to do with Kashmir.

Earlier this month, the government had revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and divided the state into Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

“When we made a law to make Ladakh a separate Union Territory then we not only respected the public sentiment here but also gave a solution to the problems of the people,” Singh said.

“Our prime minister has made it clear that localised solution will be brought in for India’s strategic areas,” he said.

Organised by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) DRDO, the ‘Kisan Jawan Vigyan Mela’ is a big step towards strengthening the strategic ecosystem in Ladakh, Singh said.