US closely monitoring India-China border row, does not want it to escalate: Official

The US is carefully monitoring the border row between India and China and doesn’t need the scenario to escalate, a senior Trump administration official has mentioned.

The official informed the reporters throughout a convention name on Friday, forward of the subsequent week’s 2+2 India-US Ministerial in New Delhi, that the Trump administration was offering help to India by defence gross sales, joint army workouts and data sharing.

“We as a government are covering the situation in the Himalayas closely, and understandably. We certainly want to ensure that the situation doesn’t escalate,” the official mentioned.

“These are all areas where we cooperate with the Indians on, and not just as it relates to the tensions in the Himalayas,” the official mentioned.

India and China are locked in a bitter border standoff in japanese Ladakh since early May that has considerably strained the bilateral ties.

Both sides have held a sequence of diplomatic and army talks to resolve the row. However, no breakthrough has been achieved to finish the standoff.

China unsuccessfully tried to occupy Indian territory on the southern financial institution of Pangong Lake within the final week of August.

In response to a query, the official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity, mentioned that the US was having an ongoing dialogue with Indian about elevated cooperation in Southeast Asia, and never merely in regards to the South China Sea.

“And we encourage their involvement. That cuts across development investments, it cuts across security cooperation, and then it also involves presence. So, we welcome greater Indian participation in Southeast Asia across all three of those areas,” mentioned the official.

The senior official’s remarks got here within the midst of a rising world concern over China’s expansionist behaviour.

The evolving scenario within the Indo-Pacific area within the wake of China’s growing army muscle-flexing has grow to be a significant speaking level amongst main world powers.

The US has been favouring making Quad a safety structure to examine China’s rising assertiveness.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes within the South and East China Seas. Beijing has additionally made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands previously few years.

Beijing claims sovereignty over the entire South China Sea. But Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. In the East China Sea, China has territorial disputes with Japan.

The South China Sea and the East China Sea are said to be wealthy in minerals, oil, and different pure assets. They are additionally important to world commerce.

Although the US lays no claims to the disputed waters, it has challenged China’s rising territorial claims within the South China Sea by deploying warships and fighter jets to claim freedom of navigation and overflight patrols within the strategically important area.