US upholds McMahon Line, says Arunachal integral part of India

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 15

The US Senate has passed a bipartisan resolution reaffirming the US’ recognition of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India and recognising the McMahon Line as the international border.

It also “commits the US to deepening support and assistance to the region, alongside like-minded international partners and donors.” The Foreign Office here is yet to comment on the development.

Chinese provocations condemned

• Use of military force to change status quo along LAC
• Construction of villages in contested areas
• Publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities in Arunachal
• Territorial claims in Bhutan

Stating that “it’s critical for the US to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our strategic partners in the region —especially India”, the Senators’ resolution condemned additional Chinese provocations, including the use of military force to change the status quo along the LAC, construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities in Arunachal Pradesh and territorial claims in Bhutan.

The US Senate commended the Government of India for taking steps to defend itself against aggression and security threats from China. Some of the Indian steps mentioned in the resolution include securing the telecommunication infrastructure, re-examining its procurement processes and supply chains and expanding its cooperation with Taiwan in public health and other sectors. The resolution said its purpose was to further strengthen the US-India bilateral partnership in defence, technology, economics and people-to-people ties. It also aims to promote US cooperation with India through the Quad, the East Asia Summit along with ASEAN and other international fora.

Piloted by a close Donald Trump associate and former US Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, who teamed up with another Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley, the resolution was introduced on February 16 and comes at a time when Sino-Indian ties seemed to be warming up with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar meeting his new Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on March 2. It was co-sponsored by Republican Senator from Texas John Cornyn. Hagerty and Merkley are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC). And Cornyn is the co-founder and co-chair of the Senate India Caucus.

The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs also met in-person for the first time after 2019. At this meeting on February 23, China had expressed its intention to speed up” the resolution of the border stand-off but the promised meeting of military commanders to discuss the nuts and bolts of the process has not materialised yet.

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