In what was a poorly veiled statement directed at China, India on Monday criticized China at the UN Security Council, during a discussion on promoting common security through dialogue and cooperation.
“Any coercive or unilateral action that seeks to change the status quo by force is an affront to common security. Further, common security is only possible when countries respect each others’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, as they would expect their own sovereignty to be respected,” said Ruchira Kamboj, India's envoy to the United Nations.
“Common security is also possible only if countries respect agreements signed with others, bilateral or multilateral, and do not take unilateral measures to nullify those very arrangements to those they were party to,” she added.
The comments come in the backdrop of the ongoing Chinese aggression over Taiwan and the standoff with India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The meeting was organised under the presidency of China.
India - China ties remain tense
India’s ties with China have deteriorated amid tensions caused by a more than two-year-old standoff between the two countries’ armies at their disputed border in the eastern Ladakh area.
The two countries have so far held sixteen rounds of Corps Commander Level talks to resolve the standoff, without success.
Earlier in August, India criticized China’s decision to block the imposition of U.N. sanctions sought by it and the United States against the deputy chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based extremist group designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organization.
“It is unfortunate that when it comes to our collective battle against terrorism the international community has been unable to speak in one common voice,” Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
Abdul Rauf Azhar has been under U.S. sanctions since December 2010 for acting for or on behalf of the group, known as JEM.
India says Azhar was involved in the planning and execution of numerous terror attacks, including the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft, the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and the 2016 attack on an Indian air force base in Pathankot.
