China has accused India of crossing the boundary in Sikkim zone and called for their immediate withdrawal. It happened just a day after an ‘un-dated video’ showing the Chinese troop entering the Indian Territory in Sikkim went viral on social media yesterday.
The Foreign Ministry of China said that Indian security personnel obstructed normal activities by Chinese security forces on the border in Sikkim zone. That is why they called on India to withdraw immediately. The Ministry of China urged India to respect the territorial integrity and the border treaties signed between India and China and said China has already suspended official pilgrimages at the Nathu La Pass, which lies on the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet. The ‘Nathu La’ connects India to the region of Hindu and Buddhist sites which was the site of a border clash between troops of China and India in 1967. In a separate statement, China’s Defense Ministry said that India’s military had obstructed work on a road and they have described it as a serious peace threatening move on the border.
They also said, “China is dedicated to the development of bilateral relations, and will staunchly defend its legitimate rights. And China hopes India also will meet it halfway, not do anything in the border section to complicate the border issues and jointly maintain the good relations”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said it after the Chinese Defense Ministry accused the India of objecting to building a road in a section what it claimed to be Chinese territory. The dispute of the road construction was the main reason why China stopped a batch of forty-seven Indian pilgrims from crossing through Nathu La Pass in Sikkim into Tibet to visit Kailash and Mansarovar.
Yesterday another Chinese defense spokesman Mr. Guoqiang said that recently China began the road construction in Donglang area. But Indian troops have stopped it by crossing the Line of Actual Control which is known as LAC.
Mr. Geng also added that the Sikkim section of the China-India boundary has been defined by treaties, noting that the government of India has repeatedly confirmed in writing that there is no objection to it. Earlier this month, Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that both the countries should work together to manage their differences appropriately. The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visited India in April 2017, to a region controlled by India but claimed by China also stoked tensions between these two countries. Actually, Beijing brands Dalai Lama as a separatist,
Since then the Indian government has taken a lot of steps to cool tensions. Even last month India has rejected an Australian request to take part in joint naval exercises with the USA and Japan to avoid agonizing China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit China in September 2017 to attend a summit of the BRICS nations, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
