BEIJING, June 2 (APP): Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh speech at the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue, was like a farce, full of absurdities and contradictions, which attracted widespread doubts from the international community, Prof. Cheng Xizhong, Senior Research Fellow at the Charhar Institute said on Monday.
According to The Times of India, the speech text of Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh was revised three times overnight before he took the stage to speak. Finally, the phrase “no intention to provoke China” was secretly added. This act itself is full of weirdness. If the speech was upright and frank, why did he need to beat around the bush? This kind of move undoubtedly reflects the uneasiness and lack of confidence on the part of India, Prof Cheng said in a statement.
He said that on the issue of the Sino-Indian border clash, India has even more unscrupulously reversed black and white.
The Chinese side has long made it clear that in the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, the Indian military was the one who provoked the incident.
However, in his speech at the dialogue, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh evaded the key points and even tried to distort the facts, blaming China. This kind of statement that disregards facts is a complete disregard for international justice and fairness, he added.
What’s more astonishing is that Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh even attempted to meddle on the Taiwan issue. The Taiwan issue is at the core of China’s core interests and is China’s internal affairs, having nothing to do with India.
India engaged in the so-called “Industrial Cooperation Forum” with Taiwan last year, seriously violating the One-China Principle. However, this time Rajnath Singh stated that India “adheres to the One-China principle”. Such inconsistency is simply like a kid game.
India wants to please the United States while fearing to offend China, and finally it will end up as a sandwich. The Narendra Modi administration’s such diplomatic gamble and its wrong actions on the Taiwan issue show that it has neither the qualification nor the strength, and can only become an international laughingstock, he added.
Prof Cheng said that at the same time, India’s performance on topic of the India-Pakistan conflict has been equally dismal. Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defense Staff, rarely admitted to “losing fighter jets in the conflict” at the Shangri-La Dialogue, but was tight-lipped about the specific number, putting forward the absurd logic that “the quantity is not important and the reason is important”.
Previously, India had always denied the loss of any fighter jet and even fabricated the rumor of “shooting down 5 Pakistani fighter jets”. Now, after being slapped in the face by reality, India is still reluctant to face up to the problem. Anil Chauhan attributed the defeat to “tactical errors”, fully exposing his ugly attitude of evading responsibility, he added.
The Chinese scholar said that the various performances of India at the Shangri-La Dialogue, whether it was the false remarks made by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on the China-India border issue and the Taiwan issue, or the evasiveness of Chief of Defense Staff Anil Chauhan on the issue of the India-Pakistan conflict, have fully demonstrated that their speeches were a complete farce.
If India wants to win respect on the international stage, it should first learn to respect facts and abide by international laws and rules, instead of seeking attention and private interests through such farcical speeches. Otherwise, India will have to face the consequences of its own actions and become increasingly isolated in the international community, he added.
