Lashing out at China, PM Narendra Modi said on Friday that the “age of expansion is over” and that the country’s Capital New Delhi will continue to develop all the infrastructure required to protect and defend its borders with strength and all-pervasive might.
While addressing soldiers of the Indian Army, the ITBF and the Indian Air Force personnel in Ladakh, PM Modi greatly appreciated their efforts during the recent face-off and violent clashes between India and China at the Galwan region.
विस्तारवाद का युग समाप्त हो चुका है। यह युग विकासवाद का है। pic.twitter.com/9eFxrYjo6x
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 3, 2020
He congratulated the personnel for protecting their “motherland” and said the “fire and fury” of the armed forces had done him proud. Although PM Modi didn’t take the name of China, he spoke vehemently against the policy of expansionism and developmental growth propagated by China.
He made it is clear that, “the age of expansionism was over and the world had moved on the path of development. He said that the expansionist tendencies had ruined the world in the last century but such powers have been subsequently forgotten by history.
He underlined that history has been proof of the fact that such powers were either defeated or buried in the pages of world history.
PM Modi’s visit was interpreted by China in negative terms and they saw it as an attempt to escalate the tensions which has been building between the two countries over the last couple of weeks.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, “India and China are in communication and negotiations on lowering the temperatures through military and diplomatic channels. No party should engage in any action that may escalate he situation at this point.”
Ji Rong, who is the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India tweeted , “ China has demarcated boundary with 12 out of 14 neighbouring countries through peaceful negotiations, turning land borders into bonds of friendly cooperation. Its groundless to view China as ‘expansionist’, exaggerate and fabricate its dispute with neighbours.”
International experts are looking at the tensions between India and China closely and are looking at PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Ladakh as a powerful international message and as sign that the government of India is not going to allow China to escalate the tensions with India further.
While paying his tributes to the soldiers who had to sacrifice their lives in the Galwan face-off, PM Narendra Modi said that the willpower of the solderers was greater than the very mountains they were surrounded with and called Ladakh, the crown of India. He also made a visit to the military hospital in Ladakh and met injured soldiers.
