China slams Japan for supporting India

It is India, and not China, which has attempted to change the status quo in Doklam area near the Sikkim border, the foreign ministry said on Friday, dismissing Japan’s expression of support for India’s stance as factually incorrect.

The Japanese envoy to India, Kenji Hiramatsu, told HT on Thursday that no country should use unilateral force to alter the status of the Doklam or Donglang region, which is under Chinese control but claimed by Bhutan.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying dismissed Hiramatsu’s statement as uninformed. “I have seen that the Japanese ambassador to India really wants to support India (on the military standoff.) And I want to remind him not to randomly make comments before clarifying relevant facts,” Hua said.

“In Doklam, there is no territorial dispute. The boundary has been delimited and recognised by both sides. The attempt to change the status quo illegally is by India, not China,” she said.

The Japanese envoy had said in response to a question on the standoff: “We recognise Doklam is a disputed area between Bhutan and China and two countries are engaged in border talks…We also understand that India has a treaty understanding with Bhutan, that’s why Indian troops got involved in the area.”

Hua reiterated China’s demand that India should withdraw its border troops unconditionally, saying this a precondition for any meaningful talks between the two sides. China has blamed India for the impasse at Doklam, and accused Indian soldiers of trespass and preventing Chinese soldiers from building a road in the region. India says the road, if built, will have serious security implications. The Indian troops intervened in coordination with the Bhutan government when Chinese forces tried to build the road in mid-June.

India has asserted that China’s construction activity changes the status quo and goes against an understanding reached by the two sides in 2012.