It seems that Union Defence Minister had a field day as she visited Nathu La area on the India-China border to interact with Indian armymen and officials of the Indo-Tibetan Police Force.
Soon after pictures of her waving at Chinese soldiers went viral on social media, the Defence Minister posted another tweet with a video of her interaction with Chinese soldiers. In the video, the minister is seen explaining the meaning of “Namaste” to PLA soldiers stations along the border.
Snippet of Smt @nsitharaman interacting with Chinese soldiers at the border at Nathu-la in Sikkim yesterday. Namaste! pic.twitter.com/jmNCNFaGep
— Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) October 8, 2017
Accompanied by Army and government officials, the minister asks Chinese soldiers if they know the meaning of ‘Namaste’, and then goes on explaining the same. Chinese soldiers then explain that they nǐ hǎo while greeting people.
Some of Indian soldiers can also be seen clicking photographs of Nirmala Sitharaman’s interaction with Chinese troopers while one is seen holding a gift wrapper box.
The minister earlier took to Twitter to share a post showing her waving at Chinese troops who were taking pictures of her from across the border.
“Acknowledged a row of Chinese soldiers from across the fence who were taking pictures on my reaching Nathu La,” she tweeted.
Acknowledged a row of Chinese soldiers from across the fence who were taking pictures on my reaching Nathu La. @DefenceMinIndia pic.twitter.com/7cWImtmfLG
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) October 7, 2017
The Defence Minister’s visit to Nathu La came amid reports of presence of PLA troops in large numbers close to Doklam, where both Indian and Chinese soldiers were till recently engaged in a faceoff.
Army officials briefed the Defence Minister on security preparedness along the Indo-China border in the Sikkim sector
Notably, the Indian government has maintained that the situation at the border has not changed since both the countries reached an agreement over Doklam standoff. While the Centre has rejected media reports of a ‘sizeable’ Chinese troops presence in Doklam, the neighbouring country reiterated that Doklam belongs to them. China, however, added that “there is no dispute”
Meanwhile, reports have said that China is building bunkers on a road in Doklam, just 10 km from the location of the last conflict.
Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Dokalam that began from June 16 over road construction activity at the India-Bhutan-China trijunction. The Doklam Plateau is claimed by both Beijing and Bhutan as their territory. The tension eased after talks between top officials of both the countries.
