India and China have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks in the last few months

China’s leaders use coercive tactics short of armed conflict to pursue its objectives, says the Pentagon in its annual report on China to the US Congress. It said this is part of Beijing’s efforts in pursuit of territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea, as well as along its border with India and Bhutan, according to a report published by Outlook.

“These tactics are particularly evident in China’s pursuit of its territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China Seas as well as along its border with India and Bhutan,” said the report, ‘Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China 2020’.

According to the PTI report carried by Outlook, the Pentagon has also pointed out China’s increased patrols around and near Taiwan using bomber, fighter and surveillance aircraft to signal Taiwan. The report says China also employs non-military tools coercively, including economic tools during periods of political tensions with countries that Beijing accuses of harming its national interests. Moreover, China has been rapidly expanding military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Beijing has built up and militarized many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region, which has triggered concerns in the neighborhood, the report says.

Highlighting the India-China border tensions, the Pentagon report states that tensions with India persist along the northeastern border near the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It said Chinese and Indian patrols regularly encounter one another along the disputed border with both sides accusing one another of border incursions.

Giving no mention of the latest India-China standoff in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, Pentagon says both countries have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks in the last two-and-a-half months. However, there has been no significant headway for a resolution to the border row in eastern Ladakh, it said.

Read the full report in Outlook India