Rahul Gandhi claims China occupied 4000 sq km land in Ladakh

Washington: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once again targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the India-China border issue, alleging that the PM didn't handle the neighbouring country well and its troops have occupied 4,000 sq km of land in Ladakh.

The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, who is on a three-day visit to the US, made the remarks on Tuesday during a media interaction at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

When asked whether India under PM Modi managed the China competition well, the Congress leader said: "If you call having Chinese troops in 4,000 square kilometres of our territory handling something well, then maybe we have got Chinese troops occupying land the size of Delhi in Ladakh. I think that's a disaster."

"How would America react if a neighbour occupied 4000 square kilometres of your territory? Would any president be able to get away with saying that he's handled that well? So I don't think PM Modi handled China well at all. I think there's no reason Chinese troops should be sitting in our territory," he added.

Earlier, during the interaction, the Congress MP emphasised that there is a need for India and the US to cooperate now to present to the world an alternative to China's "non-democratic production vision".

He said China has placed in front of "us a vision for production and prosperity in a non-democratic environment".

"What is our response? Are we simply going to just sit there and say, okay, China can be the producer of the world and we're not going to do anything? Or do we have a response? What is our response to the Belt and Road, right?" Rahul Gandhi said.

"I don't see one. So to me, that's really where US and India cooperation needs to go. How can we provide a democratic vision of production, of manufacturing that actually works to the rest of the world? And I think both countries bring different things to the table, and I think there's a huge opportunity there," he added.