New Delhi [India], June 19 (ANI): Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the withdrawal agreement with China in 2024 resulted in a 'tremendous territorial setback to India' and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'infamous clean chit to China.' He also called for a national consensus on the security and economic challenges posed by China.

'Today is the fifth anniversary of PM Modi's infamous clean chit to China, when he said 'Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai' (No one has entered our border, nor is anyone inside), only four days after 20 of our brave soldiers gave their lives for the nation in Galwan on 15 June 2020,' Ramesh said in a post on X.

He said that this 'sorry episode' concluded with a withdrawal agreement on 21 October 2024 under which Indian patrols require Chinese concurrence to reach their patrolling points in Depsang, Demchok, and Chumar.

''Buffer zones in Galwan, Hot Spring, and Pangong Tso lie predominantly within the Indian claim line and seemingly permanently prevent our troops from accessing points to which they had unrestricted access before April 2020. This is nowhere close to the status quo as demanded by our Armed Forces and represents a tremendous territorial setback to India,' he said.

The Congress leader pointed out that imports from China are booming, especially electronics, electric batteries, and solar cells. Important sectors like telecom, pharmaceuticals, and electronics are critically dependent on Chinese imports, he said.

'The trade deficit with China has reached a record $99.2 billion in 2024-25. Meanwhile, exports to China are lower today than they were in 2013-14 despite a much weaker rupee, which should, in theory, have made exports more competitive. This surrender to Chinese economic might is the result of the External Affairs Minister's similarly infamous statement when he said: 'Look, they are the bigger economy. What am I going to do? As a smaller economy, am I going to pick up a fight with the bigger economy?' he said.

He said that it is now increasingly clear that China played a pivotally embedded role in Pakistan's military operations during Operation Sindoor. This support went deeper than the supply of weapon systems such as the J-10C fighter and PL-15E air-to-air missile.

'It encompasses the domains of AI, multi-domain operations and stealth, with Pakistan likely to get up to 40 J-35 stealth fighters from China in the near future. The challenge of a single front encompassing our northern and western borders appears to be a reality today,' he said.

He said that the Congress had been calling for a detailed debate on China for the past five years.

'That has not happened. We hope that the Prime Minister will finally agree to such a discussion in the forthcoming Parliament session. It is important to collectively work towards a national consensus on these vital national security and economic challenges posed by China's emergence as the world's dominant manufacturing power and as the world's second-largest economy, which may well overtake that of the USA in a decade,' he said. (ANI)