A day after US President Donald Trump said that he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was that he is not in a good mood over border issues with China, sources claim that there has been no recent contact between President Trump and PM Modi.
Sources familiar with the matter said: “There has been no recent contact between PM Modi and President Trump. The last conversation between them was on April 4 2020 on the subject of hydroxychloroquine.”
Sources also said: “Yesterday, MEA had also made it clear that we are directly in touch with the Chinese through established mechanisms and diplomatic contacts.” The clarification comes after President Trump once again offered to mediate between India and China.
President Trump while talking to reporters at Washington had said: “We have a big conflict going on between India and China, two countries with 1.4 billion people and very powerful militaries. India is not happy and probably China is not happy, I did speak to Prime Minister Modi, he is not in a good mood about what’s going on with China. If they thought it would help if I were the mediator or arbitrator, I would do that.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump had tweeted, “We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute. Thank you!”
In the past, US President has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan with New Delhi rejecting it saying all issues can be resolved bilaterally.
The border situation at Ladhakh detoriated on May 5 when 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off which spilled over to the next day before the two sides agreed to “disengage” following a meeting at the level of local commanders. Reportedly over 100 Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in the violence.
Another incident was reportedly from North Sikkim on May 9.
In 2017, the Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it.