No compromise, ball in your court, China warns India
The mounting tension between India and China on a military standoff in the Sikkim sector reached a new high on Tuesday with China ruling out a compromise and putting the onus on New Delhi to resolve the “grave” situation.
In unusually blunt remarks, China’s ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui told PTI in an interview that “the ball is in India’s court” and it was for the Indian government to decide what options could be on the table to resolve the standoff.
Asked about remarks by official Chinese media and thinktanks that the conflict can lead to a war if not handled properly, the ambassador said: “There has been talk about this option, that option. It is up to your government policy (whether to exercise military option).”
In diplomatic language, such harsh words indicate that the gloves are off.
Save for Pakistani ambassadors, envoys in India have scarcely spoken so sternly about an ongoing confrontation before.
Luo asserted that China is very clear that it wants peaceful resolution at current state of the situation for which withdrawal of Indian troops from the area is a “precondition”.
“The first priority is that the Indian troops unconditionally pull back to the Indian side of the boundary. That is the precondition for any meaningful dialogue between China and India,” he said.
China and India have been engaged in a standoff in the
The first priority is that the Indian troops pull back to the Indian side of the boundary. That is the precondition for any meaningful dialogue LUO ZHAOHUI, China’s ambassador to India
Dokalam area near the Bhutan trijunction for past 19 days after a Chinese army’s construction party came to build a road.
Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region. China and Bhutan are engaged in talks over the resolution of the area.
Bhutan, however, has no diplomatic ties with China and it is supported militarily and diplomatically by India.
“The situation is grave and made me deeply worried. It is the first time that Indian troops have crossed the mutually recognised boundary and trespassed into China’s territory, triggering a close range face off between Chinese and Indian border troops. Now 19 days have passed, but the situation still has not eased,” Luo said.
He also asserted that India has no right to interfere with the China-Bhutan boundary talks, nor is it entitled to make territorial claims on behalf of Bhutan.
Over the past week, the two sides have reminded each other about the 1962 war, and how both countries have become much stronger militarily since then. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet on the sidelines on the G20 Summit in Germany later this week.