Where is the G20 summit being held in India?
India as the current President for G-20 will hold around 200 meeting across the Indian cities in 2023 and the process has already started. A recent G-20 meet in Arunachal Pradesh needs special mention.
Whenever top Indian official like President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Defence Minister visits Arunachal Pradesh, China officially protest diplomatically without fail. This is happening for the last two decades but Chinese failed to deter top Indian officials visit to Arunachal Pradesh. Now India hosted a G-20 meet in Aruncahal Pradesh’s capital city Itanagar and as expected, the Chinese delegates were conspicuous by its absence. China didn’t gave any explanation to abstain the ‘Research and Innovation initiative’ meet of G-20 but everybody knows the reason. This event happened on Sunday 26 March 2023 and till now, no diplomatic protest made by China for holding this G-20 meet in Arunachal Pradesh where more than 50 international delegates attended. According to officiais, the delegates visited the local legislative assembly during the meeting and may also visit Tawang border area where December 9, 2022 clash occurred. This event was not covered extensively in media as only government media house All India Radio (AIR), and Doordarshan were allowed to cover the meet and no private media who creates excessive hype and noise for TRP were not allowed. The event went off smoothly.
This time there was no diplomatic protest from China, no press briefing in Beijing, no protest tweet from Chinese embassy in Delhi, no nasty article in Globaltimes. This was a masterstroke by Modi government to hold various G-20 meets in various cities including Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and J&K. When India got G-20 Presidency from Indonesia last year, Modi made it clear that he will hold G-20 meets in various Indian cities.
This hammer is for China
India and the US made a new Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). The first round of talks took place between NSA Doval and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan in January in Washington. Under the iCET, both sides have decided to develop a new bilateral Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation between both countries for the joint development and production, with an initial focus on exploring projects related to jet engines, munition-related technologies, and quantum computing. Frank Kendall, Secretary, US Air Force, recently said Washington and New Delhi have ‘broken barriers’ in terms of jet engine technology-sharing even as General Electric (GE) has offered to manufacture its military engines in India, probably in Pune where GE has a factory. Kendall also said that India and the US are at an early stage to conclude an ‘Air Information Sharing Agreement’ that will be “over and above” the defence foundational pacts that India and the US have signed - Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), and Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA).
Recently in mid-March 2023, approximately 3 months after the incident, US media made a sensational claim that USA provided critical intelligence to India which helped India prevent a Chinese transgression in Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh on 9th December 2022. If this is true, USA-India strategic cooperation is gaining strength and the agreements like BECA, LEMOA and COMCASA etc. are working for mutual benefits of these two countries. But India also has its own spy high resolution satellites which should also provide these intelligence. So, some people in India seeing the report of USA intelligence help is just boasting or media hype. Whatever be the case, China should be concerned with this co-operation.
While the USA has made steps to contain China’s semiconductor advancement to protect national security, it has pledged to support the ‘development of a semiconductor design, manufacturing, and fabrication ecosystem in India’ and to help the South Asian nation develop a skilled workforce to play a bigger role in the global chip industry. USA also introduced a bipartisan bill in senate stating Arunachal Pradesh is integral part of India and McMahon line is the international border.
All these developments may have rattled China and they have not made any noise yet about holding G-20 meets in Arunachal Pradesh. China has done all possible dirty tricks in Arunachal Pradesh to maintain pressure on India. They not just claimed the area as South Tibet but also renamed many locations which has no legal basis. The purpose was obviously to keep pressure on India. They issued staple visas in the past for people from Arunachal Pradesh.
Now, it is Modi’s turn to give some pushbacks to China. Modi should also conduct some SCO meets in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. If that happens, many Indians will say ‘Modi hai toh mumkin hai.’
Picture source: Google / Respective rightful owner
Comments
Post a Comment