China’s Vice Foreign Minister on Tuesday said the Doklam standoff between India and China was the result of “lack of mutual trust”, PTI reported. Kong Xuanyou’s statement to the media precedes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s summit on April 27 and 28.
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.
The official said Beijing and New Delhi need to collaborate to create favourable conditions and settle the boundary matter. “The boundary incident that happened [at Doklam] reflected the lack of mutual trust between the two countries,” the official said.
In March, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunyin had said Doklam is China’s sovereign territory and that there was no question of a change in the status quo. She was responding to Indian Ambassador Gautam Bambawale’s statement that China had “changed the status quo in the Doklam area”.
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