India is “alert and ready” for any situation that may arise in the Doklam area along the border with China, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday.
The Doklam plateau, near the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, was the site of a 74-day-long standoff between Indian and Chinese troops from June to August 2017. Since the standoff ended, both countries have maintained that talks are on to improve troubled ties.
On Sunday, however, at an event at Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat’s residence in Dehradun, Sitharaman replied to a question on China’s intervention in Doklam and Arunachal Pradesh saying, “India is ready to face any situation”, the Hindustan Times reported. “We will maintain our territory and integrity at all costs.”
“We are constantly working on the modernisation of our forces,” she added, according to The Hindu. Sitharaman, who was speaking to candidates selected for the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy, said the government has given the forces a free hand in exercising emergency powers to purchase any ammunition required to improve preparedness.
Sitharaman’s statement comes ahead of an expected bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in June.
On Saturday, Indian Ambassador in Beijing, Gautam Bambawale confirmed that Modi will visit China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, and stressed on the need for better communication between the two countries. He had said the Doklam standoff was because China “changed the status quo in the Doklam area”.
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