Zee Media Bureau/Ajith Vijay Kumar
New Delhi: Days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a warm handshake, China went back to its old ways of not respecting the sanctity of its border with India.
Reports said, Wednesday, that a Chinese helicopter violated the Indian airspace in Uttarkhand on June 13 and made its way to Rimkhim in Chamoli district deep inside Indian territory. The chopper hovered over Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) post located there for over 10 minutes at around 8:45 am before disappearing behind the mountains.
The nearest big town from Rimkhim is Joshimath. The revered Badrinath Shrine and Hemkunth Sahib are also in the vicinity.
There are also reports of a Chinese incursion into Uttarakhand on April 30.
Over the years, Chinese troops have made several incursions in the area. Last July, 21 Chinese troops had entered into the Indian territory at Barahoti, also in in Chamoli district.
China first protested the presence of Indian troops at Barahoti, which they called as Wu je, in 1954. Later, a series of events and incursions laid the foundation of the first Sino Indian war in 1962.
Uttarakhand shares a 350km long border with China.
China has also been making territorial claims over parts of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
India has maintained a strong position against the repeated breach of its territorial integrity, however, with the Chinese too firm on their claims on Indian land, the issue has remained the single biggest irritant in growth of the relationship between the two countries.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 9 in Delhi.
Yi had also held detailed discussions with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over "perennial" bilateral issues. While the issues touched upon during the parleys were not specified but India is believed to have raised the boundary dispute, incursions, issuance of stapled visas by China to certain category of Indians, construction of dams on Brahmaputra river.
