‘Troops in Doklam normal’

BEIJING :China on Friday reacted to media reports about the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) widening a road near the site of a recent standoff with India by stating its troops patrol the Donglang or Doklam region to protect the country’s territorial rights. Its foreign ministry contended that Doklam had always been under China’s control.

“Chinese border defence troops have always been patrolling in Donglang district to protect the territorial rights, according to relevant border treaties and agreements,” the ministry said in statement.

“There is no dispute that Donglang (Doklam) is always part of China’s territory and is always under China’s effective and valid administration.”

The Doklam region, near the Sikkim border, is under China’s control but claimed by Bhutan.

In New Delhi, the external affairs ministry said status quo prevailed in the Doklam region and there had been “no new developments at the face-off site and its vicinity since the 28th August disengagement”.

Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted the statement in response to media reports.

“The status quo prevails in the area. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect,” Kumar said.

MEA’s response comes a day after Indian army sources told Hindustan Times that China has maintained a sizeable presence of troops near the site of the Doklam standoff with India and that the PLA had started widening a road, about 12km from the site where the two armies were locked in a tense standoff that lasted for 73 days.

Sources added that the road was being widened in Chumbi Valley but the area was under Chinese control and the development did not have strategic implications for India. Around 500 Chinese soldiers are present in the area where the construction work is being carried out.

The face-off was resolved on August 28, when both sides pulled back their troops in the tri-junction region of India, China and Bhutan, and China stopped the road construction to which New Delhi had objected.

On Friday, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also tweeted asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain reports of road construction activity by China in Dokalam if he was done “thumping” his chest.

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY MAINTAINED THERE HAS NOT BEEN ANY NEW DEVELOPMENT AT FACEOFF SITE SINCE THE DISENGAGEMENT REACHED ON AUGUST 28