China accuses Indian govt of ‘betrayal’

The verbal spat between China and India escalated on Monday, as Beijing said the Indian Army’s action to stop Chinese troops from constructing a road in an area near Sikkim is a “betrayal” of the stance taken by successive Indian governments, and India must withdraw from the region.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that the Sino-India border in the Sikkim sector is well demarcated. “By entering into Chinese territory and obstructing Chinese troops’ normal activities, India violated the existing convention on the boundary and basic principle of the international law and obstructed peace and stability of the boundary area,” Geng told reporters in an extensive briefing.

China and India have been engaged in a stand-off in the Doka La area near the Bhutan tri-junction for almost a month in what has been the longest such impasse between the two armies since 1962, when the two countries fought a brief war.

Sikkim, which became a part of India in May 1976, is the only state with a demarcated border with China. The lines are based on an 1898 treaty signed with China.

He dismissed Defence Minister Arun Jaitley’s remarks that India of 2017 is different from what it was during the war with the communist nation in 1962, saying China too is different and will take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its territorial sovereignty.

“Former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru endorsed the 1890 Sino-British Treaty on Sikkim in a letter to then Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in 1959. Successive Indian governments have also endorsed this,” he said.

He, however, said the line for diplomatic communication between India and China is “open and smooth”.