NSA to Chair Meet over Chinese Incursions
With Chinese incursions on Indian soil touching off country-wide concerns, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan has convened a meeting of top officials on Thursday to formulate a response strategy for what is widely viewed as Beijing’s hardening stance.
The meeting, chaired by Narayanan, is likely to be attended by Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, Home Secretary GK Pillai and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao apart from the chiefs of the three armed forces and the Intelligence Bureau.
The gathering is expected to scan the nature of Chinese incursions and their implications on relations between the two countries.
The meeting comes amid heightened anxieties over the repeated incursions that are widely accepted as signs of the hardening Chinese stance over the border issue.
Remarkably, the government has tried to play down the Chinese forays as routine incidents stemming from differences in perception over the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Meanwhile the Arunachal Pradesh state government on Wednesday urged New Delhi to act tough on Chinese claims over the state.
“Chinese claims over Arunachal Pradesh are simply baseless and not correct. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India” said Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu.
Though, Beijing gave up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim in 2003, it still contends that nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it.
The border state shares a 1,030 km unfenced border with China.
(Based on Internet Reports)
