India Raises Military Stand-Off With China at First ‘2 Plus 2’ Dialogue With Russia

Both sides signed an agreement to manufacture AK-203 assault rifles and extended the military-technical cooperation agreement for another 10 years.

New Delhi: Raising the military stand-off with China, India on Monday, December 6, said that Russia will remain its “major partner” during the neighbourhood’s current “challenging” circumstances, adding the issue of an enhanced need for military collaboration at the first-ever ministerial ‘2 plus 2’ ministerial dialogue with Russia.

Ahead of the India-Russia annual summit in the evening, the defence and foreign ministers of India and Russia met formally in the afternoon to discuss bilateral and regional issues, followed by a signing of two defence agreements.

The two sides signed an agreement to manufacture AK-203 assault rifles and extended the military-technical cooperation agreement for another 10 years.

At the start of the talks, India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh immediately brought up China.

“The pandemic, the extraordinary militarisation and expansion of armament in our neighbourhood and unprovoked aggression on our northern border since early summer of 2020 have thrown in several challenges,” said Singh in his opening remarks, unmistakably referring to the continuing stand-off with China in eastern Ladakh.

Singh added that these issues had also been discussed with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu during their bilateral meeting in the morning.

“I had the opportunity to discuss in detail the emerging challenges India is confronted with and the enhanced requirement of India for closer military to military technical collaboration with Russia,” he said.

Also read: At First Summit in 2 Years, India and Russia Will Take Forward Defence Ties, Try to Bridge Differences

Russia and China have grown closer over the last few years, as both of them sparred with the US-led western countries on a range of issues from Syria to Africa and the Indian ocean.

During the current stand-off, Russia has maintained a neutral stance, asserting that it was “worried” about the confrontation. At the same time, Moscow had reiterated confidence that both countries would solve the border crisis bilaterally.

India and China have been facing each other at multiple points on the Line of Actual Control (LoC) since May 2020. This has resulted in the first fatalities on the border in four decades when 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops died in a violent encounter at Galwan in June last year.

So far, the multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks have only led to the withdrawal of troops at two out of the four stand-off points.

India had blamed China’s unprecedented increase in military manpower and equipment across the LAC in Ladakh, which led to the transgression of previously held status-quo lines at the border.

Singh told the visiting Russian ministers stated that New Delhi sought partners that are “sensitive and responsive towards India’s expectations and requirements”. He described India’s development needs as “colossal” and its defence challenges as “legitimate, real and immediate”.

“We hope that Russia will remain a major partner for India in these challenging circumstances,” he asserted.

The Indian defence minister called for “greater military cooperation, advance research, co-development and co-production, leading to the self-reliance of India”. “Separately, we proposed greater engagement in Central Asia and Indian Ocean region,” he added.

Singh’s cabinet colleague, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar stated that the discussions of the ‘2 plus 2’ dialogue covered “the emergence of multipolarity and rebalancing”.

External affairs minister S. Jaishankar speaks at the India-Russia first-ever ministerial ‘2 plus 2’ ministerial dialogue in New Delhi on Monday, December 6. Photo: Twitter.

“We look too at the consequences of over-centralised globalisation. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions about the current model of global affairs,” said Jaishankar in his opening remarks.

He noted that the challenges of terrorism, violent extremism, and radicalisation were also under the agenda. “The situation in Afghanistan has wider repercussions, including for Central Asia. West Asia or the Middle East continues to present hotspots”.

Jaishankar also touched up the issue of Indo-Pacific, on which Russia and India have differences, but kept his remarks to their commonalities. “Maritime security and safety is another domain of shared concern. We both have a common interest in ASEAN centrality and ASEAN-driven platforms.”

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also highlighted the commonalities in a similar vein.

“Russia and India have similar visions of a more just, democratic, polycentric world order… They stand for compliance with the norms of international law, strengthening the collective principles of interstate communication, adhere to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and respect for the cultural and civilisational diversity of our world,” he said.

Later in the evening, the two sets of ministers will report to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin about their deliberations at their annual summit.

India has a ‘two plus two’ dialogue mechanism with all the ‘Quad’ members – United States, Japan, Australia – and South Korea.