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‘By no means for peace’: China accuses India of massing troops & supplies amid border dispute
FILE
PHOTO: An Indian army tank moves during an army exercise © B Mathur
/ Reuters
RT,
4
August, 217
India
is creating infrastructure and deploying a large number of troops on
its side of the border at the disputed area in the Himalayas, China's
foreign ministry has said, adding, that New Delhi’s actions
indicate it’s not interested in a peaceful resolution of the
standoff.
The
impasse between the neighbors and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa) partners began on June 18, when Indian troops were
sent to the strategic Doklam valley, which separates India from
Bhutan. New Delhi said the move was necessary to curb Chinese road
construction on the Himalayan plateau, which, according to the India,
violates the status quo.
“Over
one month has passed since the outbreak of the incident. The Indian
border troops still illegally stay in the Chinese territory.
Moreover, the Indian side is building roads, hoarding supplies and
deploying a large number of armed forces on the Indian side of the
boundary,” Geng
Shuang, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.
The
spokesman provided several other arguments, which, according to
Beijing, prove that India is looking to escalate the situation in
Doklam.
“China
had notified the Indian side about the road works through the border
meeting mechanism on May 18 and June 8 and the Indian side did not
make any response,” he
said.
Instead
of acknowledging its mistake, Geng said, India is coming up
with “fabricated” excuses
for the “illegal”presence
of its troops in the area, including “the
so-called ‘security concerns,’ the ‘issue of tri-junction’
and at the request of Bhutan.”
The
foreign ministry spokesman added that New Delhi’s “unreasonable
demands” to
Beijing also“demonstrated
its lack of sincerity for resolving the incident.”
The
Indian Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, said Thursday
that New Delhi was committed to solving the crisis at the negotiating
table.
“War
is never the solution to a dispute. Wisdom is to resolve issues
diplomatically. We're not only negotiating over Doklam, but
discussing bilateral relations with China as well. This is the only
solution,” Swaraj said as
cited by The Times of India.
Geng
shot back that India always willingly talks about peace, but “we
should not only listen to its words, but also heed its deed.”
“If
the Indian side truly cherishes peace, what it should do is to
immediately pull back the trespassing border troops to the Indian
side of the boundary,” he
said.
Some
48 Indian troops – out of 270 who entered Doklam on June 18 –
remain in the disputed area, Geng said, adding, there’s also large
concentration of Indian forces on its side of the border.
However,
the Times of India newspaper claimed that
400 Indian soldiers were deployed to Doklam and none of them have
left.
The
paper further reports that the Indian military currently has around
8,500 servicemen deployed on its side of the border just outside the
disputed area.
