Reacting to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s remark that India in 2017 is different from India in 1962, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday that “China too is different and will take all necessary measures to safeguard its territorial sovereignty,” reported PTI. China said the border between the two nations in the Sikkim sector is well demarcated under the 1890 Sino-British Treaty.
“I would like the Indian side to respect the 1890 treaty immediately and pull back the border troops that have crossed into Chinese territory back to the Indian side of the boundary,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said. Geng also accused India of using Bhutan as a “cover up” for the “illegal entry” of its troops into Doklam, which China claims falls in its territory.
“In order to cover up the illegal entry of the Indian border troops, to distort the fact and even at the expense of Bhutan’s independence and sovereignty, they try to confuse right from wrong, that is futile.” Geng said that while China has “no objection” to normal bilateral relations between India and Bhutan, it was opposed to Indian troops “infringing” on Chinese territory using Bhutan as an “excuse”.
“The Bhutan side does not know previously that the Indian troops entered into the Doklam area, which is not in line with what is claimed by the Indian side,” he said. The spokesperson, when asked if talks are going on between India and China to resolve the Sikkim standoff, said, “The line of diplomatic communication between two sides is open and smooth.”
On Thursday, China’s Defence Spokesperson Colonel Wu Qian had said that India should learn from history and stop “clamouring” for war, in reference to the 1962 Sino-Indian war that had ended with a Chinese victory.
India and China have deployed around 3,000 troops each on the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction. India has also made it clear that it will not allow China to construct a motorable road till the tri-junction through the Bhutanese territory of Doklam plateau. Bhutan, too, has asked Beijing to stop work immediately and issued a demarche to China over the construction of the road towards its army camp at Zomplri in the Doklam plateau.
China had on Sunday also claimed that India had violated international laws by “crossing” the border, and demanded that India withdraw its troops immediately. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra had been suspended on Friday because of tensions on the Sikkim border.
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