Responding to India's decision to review Confucius institutes that are jointly established by Chinese and Indian universities, Beijing has issued a veiled warning to New Delhi stating that all the institutes were established after signing legally binding cooperation agreements.
We hope Indian side treat Confucius Institutes & #China-#India higher education cooperation in an objective&fair manner, avoid politicizing normal cooperation, & maintain healthy&stable development of China-India people-to-people&cultural exchanges. https://t.co/hYBwYAEP67 pic.twitter.com/5nXgK45AtC
— Ji Rong (@ChinaSpox_India) August 4, 2020
China has urged India not to politicise people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the countries in the wake of the border stand-off in Ladakh.
Stating that the demand for Chinese language is growing in India, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India, Counsellor Ji Rong, asked India to treat higher education cooperation between the countries in a fair manner.
"Indian relevant parties can treat Confucius Institutes and China-India higher education cooperation in an objective and fair manner, avoid politicising normal cooperation and maintain healthy and stable development of China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges".
Rong's statement comes against the backdrop of India's decision to review Chinese language programmes across universities in the country, as well as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed for inter-school cooperation between higher education institutes in both the countries.
In the wake of New Education Policy 2020, India's Ministry of Education will soon review the jointly established Confucius classrooms in seven Indian universities and colleges, which the embassy spokesperson said have played a crucial part in promoting the Chinese language.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday, "Being two of the world's largest developing countries & emerging economies, China and India's cooperation will inject impetus into each other's development, while help global peace and prosperity".
The fifth round of conflict resolution talks took place between India and China on Monday - focusing on disengagement in Pangong Tso and the Depsang Valley - wherein India maintained that compromise on the territorial integrity was non-negotiable and argued for the status quo in the region.
The simmering border tensions between India and China resulted in physical clashes in the eastern Ladakh region on 15 June, where 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives and the casualties on the Chinese side remain undisclosed. Both the countries accused each other of violating the loosely demarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
