The Chinese embassy in New Delhi has issued an advisory for all its citizens, asking them to pay attention to their safety and avoid unnecessary travel within India, NDTV reported on Saturday. The advisory, which was issued on Friday, is valid for a month.
While this is not a travel advisory, it asks Chinese nationals in India to carry personal identification and keep their family, colleagues and friends posted about their movements. On July 5, China had said that it will decide on issuing travel alert for Chinese citizens visiting India depending on the security situation, reported PTI.
“It is not a travel alert. It is advisory asking Chinese travellers to be careful,” an official of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said.
No reasons have been cited for issuing the advisory, though it comes amid a continuing standoff between Indian and Chinese troops on the Sikkim border. China has accused Indian troops of transgressing the border, while India says it will not allow China to build a motorable road in Doklam, which the neighbour claims falls in its own territory.
Meanwhile, at the Ladakh part of the border, head of the Tibetan government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay unfurled the Tibetan national flag on the shores of Pang Gong lake, The Wire reported.
On July 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had exchanged greetings at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) meeting on the sidelines of G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. China had said that President Xi and Modi will not meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Germany. The atmosphere was not ideal for a bilateral meeting between the two leaders, China’s Foreign Ministry had said, referring to the continuing India-China standoff in the Doklam region in the Sikkim sector.
The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim was cancelled earlier in June amid the standoff. China has also issued a series of warnings to India asking it withdraw its troops from Doklam.
Beijing on Friday had said New Delhi had “ulterior motives” behind terming the Donglang or Doklam region as part of the tri-junction with Bhutan. Beijing also insisted that it had not breached the Special Representatives mechanism, set up by the two countries to solve border disputes, and that the road being built by China had nothing to do with the tri-junction point.
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