Dokalam: India talks tough, wants China to withdraw troops

In a toughening of its stand, India on Thursday asked China to withdraw its troops from Dokalam on the Bhutan-China border if it wanted New Delhi to pull out its Army from the area.

In the first exhaustive Indian comment on the border row between India and China that began over a month ago, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj accused China of unilaterally trying to change the status quo on the frontier with Bhutan. This is what had sparked off the stand-off between the Indian and Chinese armies, she told the Rajya Sabha.

She said while China was saying that India should withdraw its troops from Doklam for negotiations to begin, “we are saying that if a dialogue is to be held, then both should withdraw (their troops)”. The Chinese action “is a challenge to our security”, the Minister said, adding India was not doing anything unreasonable.

The stand-off started more than a month ago when Indian troops stopped Chinese soldiers from building a road on the tri-junction of India, Bhutan and China. This has severely affected Sino-Indian ties, with Chinese experts threatening a war if New Delhi did not buckle. Sushma Swaraj accused China of violating the terms of a written agreement reached between India, China and Bhutan in 2012.

She described what was different about the June 16 incident that led to the standoff. “This time though, they came with bulldozers and construction equipment with the aim of breaching the point where the tri-junction ends. That is a threat to our security,” she said. This time, China wanted to “unilaterally change the status quo” at the Sikkim-Tibet-Bhutan trijunction, she said.

“As long as it was between China and Bhutan about their border dispute, we had no problem. But when it comes to tri-junction, our interests came into the picture. “They want to come down to Batang La. If China unilaterally changes the status quo at the tri-junction, it will pose a direct threat to our security. “Foreign countries are with us. They feel that China is being aggressive with a small country like Bhutan. Bhutan has protested, including in writing. All the countries feel India's stand is right and the law is with us,” the Minister said.