China claims India has admitted that its soldiers cross into Chinese territory
New Delhi: China’s foreign minister on Tuesday claimed that India has “admitted” that its soldiers crossed into Chinese territory and demanded that Delhi must “conscientiously withdraw” its troops that moved across the border in Sikkim early in June.
“Even senior Indian officials have openly stated that Chinese troops did not enter into the Indian territory. In other words, the Indian side admitted to entering the Chinese territory,” said foreign minister Wang Yi commenting for the first time over the standoff between the troops from the two countries.
China claims that last month, Indian troops illegally transgressed the border at the mountainous state of Sikkim to stop Chinese soldiers from building a road on a plateau it refers to as Donglang. The same region is called Doklam by Bhutan and India.
Delhi, on the contrary, has said it had warned China that the road it was undertaking would be treated as a serious security concern.
India and Bhutan have repeatedly said that the area China is claiming as its own belongs to Bhutan, a stand refuted by Beijing in the midst of a lengthy and tense border dispute.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval travels later this week to Beijing for a meeting of top officials from BRICS, which brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Neither China nor India have ruled out a one-on-one meeting between Doval and his counterpart, which could yield a breakthrough.
