Owaisi slams Modi govt’s ‘flip-flop’ China policy, questions border status, trade deficit

Hyderabad: Against the backdrop of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to India, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday questioned whether the situation on the India-China border has returned to the “Status Quo Ante Bellum” that existed before the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020.

Owaisi alleged that the Modi government's China policy has been a series of flip-flops, leaving India weaker and in an inferior position after 11 years.

“Has the situation on the border returned to the Status Quo Ante Bellum of April 2020? If not, how are we going to achieve that now while declaring such close friendship with China?” he claimed in a series of posts on 'X'.

Owaisi further asked why China has not agreed to share real-time data from rivers feeding hydropower dams with India and why information is limited to emergencies under humanitarian considerations.

He also questioned whether China has committed to refraining from providing military support to Pakistan, as alleged during recent clashes.

He asked whether the Central government had not insisted to Beijing that the two countries could not be friends if it continued to hurt India through Pakistan.

The AIMIM president sought clarification on why China has not officially agreed to supply DAP fertilisers, rare earths, and boring machines to India, and what steps it has promised to reduce the massive trade deficit in its favour.

“Or are we going to promote more bilateral trade that further increases the trade deficit?” he asked.

Alleging that India has suffered across multiple domains, from territory to trade, Owaisi claimed the government’s lack of answers reflects its failures.

Earlier this week, in a major thaw in ties, India and China on August 19 unveiled a series of measures for a “stable, cooperative and forward-looking” relationship, including jointly maintaining peace along the frontier, reopening border trade, promoting investment flows, and resuming direct flight connectivity.

The measures were listed in a joint document following Wang Yi’s talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.