World / US willing to mediate between India & China over their border dispute: Trump

Wahington: As India-China border tensions rise amid the continuing standoff in Eastern Ladakh, between the militaries of India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), United States President Donald Trump today said that US would "willingly mediate or arbitrate" to resole ongoing issues.

"We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute. Thank you," tweeted Trump.

The US president had previously offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, a proposal rejected by New Delhi which maintains that there is no role for any third party in bilateral issues.

To calm the raging nerves in Delhi and Beijing, China on Wednesday said that the situation at the border with India is "overall stable and controllable," and both the countries have proper mechanisms and communication channels to resolve the issues through a dialogue and consultation.

"China and India are each other's opportunities and pose no threats to each other. We need to see each other's developments in a correct way and enhance strategic mutual trusts. We need to correctly view our differences and never let differences shadow overall situation of bilateral cooperation," Chinese Envoy to India, Sun Weidong said in a press conference today.

The nearly 3,500-km-long LAC is the de-facto border between India and China.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, said that China's position on the border related issues is clear and consistent.

"We have been following the important consensus reached by the two leaders and strictly observing the agreements between the two countries," he said, seemingly indicating the moves of both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their two informal summits, asking the militaries of the two countries to take more confidence building measures to maintain peace and tranquillity along the borders.

The foreign ministry's remarks came a day after President Xi Jinping ordered the military to scale up the battle preparedness, visualising the worst-case scenarios and asked them to resolutely defend the country's sovereignty.

Earlier, several areas along the LAC in Ladakh and North Sikkim have witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese armies that led to escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by Indian and China even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs.

India has said the Chinese military was hindering normal patrolling by its troops along the LAC in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly refuted Beijing's contention that the escalating tension between the two armies was triggered by trespassing of Indian forces across the Chinese side.

The Ministry of External Affairs said all Indian activities were carried out on its side of the border, asserting that India has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, it said, India was deeply committed to protect its sovereignty and security.

"Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing last week.