The US President Donald Trump has tweeted an offer to mediate between India and China over what he calls their “now raging border dispute”. The comment refers to a build-up along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by Indian and Chinese armies following a recent face-off in Ladakh.
“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!,” President Trump tweeted on Wednesday (27 May 2020).
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
Several areas along the LAC in Ladakh and North Sikkim have seen a military build-up by the Indian and Chinese armies, in a sign of escalating tension and hardening of positions by the two nations two weeks after they were engaged in separate face-offs.
The nearly 3,500-km-long LAC is the de-facto border between the two countries.
China’s military friction with the US has also been on the rise with the American navy stepping its patrols in the disputed South China Sea as well as the Taiwan Straits. Washington and Beijing have also engaged in a war of words over the origin of the coronavirus pandemic.