Tricky: Doklam standoff.

India wants both sides to withdraw troops before talks; China adamant

Indian troops on China side must be captured or killed: Former diplomat

Agency Report | New Delhi/Beijing | 20 July, 2017 | 10:30 PM

Finally, India decided to get a little tough on the Doklam issue with China. Rejecting the Chinese demand for withdrawal of Indian troops from the border area, the foreign minister said both sides must pull out before talks to resolve the matter. But China refuses to budge from its position that India has infringed and must pull back as a pre-condition. In fact, a former Chinese diplomat who served in India went to the extent of saying that Indian troops that have crossed over must be captured or killed.

India on Thursday rejected China’s demand for withdrawal of troops from the Doklam border area, saying the pullout should be from both sides for a dialogue to be held for resolving the month long military standoff at the tri-junction in Sikkim sector.

On its part, China kept up its belligerence saying Indian withdrawal is a pre-condition for any dialogue to take place.

In the first exhaustive Indian comments on the border row, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj accused China of “unilaterally” trying to change the status quo at the tri-junction on the frontier with Bhutan.

She told the Rajya Sabha that while China was saying India should withdraw its troops from Doklam for negotiations to begin, India is saying that both countries should withdraw their troops.

“They (China) are demanding that we should withdraw our forces… We want that if a dialogue is held, and if talks are to be held, then both the countries should withdraw their troops. From India’s side, no unreasonable demand is being made.. All countries are with us, as they all feel that China is being aggressive on a small country like Bhutan. Bhutan has lodged a written protest.”

“All countries feel that India’s stand on the matter is not wrong. Truth is on our side,” she added.

The Minister said the Chinese action “is a challenge to our security” and India was not doing anything unreasonable.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang reiterated that no talks would be held with India until it withdrew troops from Doklam.

“Our diplomatic channel is unimpeded and the withdrawal of the Indian border troops is the precondition for any meaningful dialogue and the communication between the two sides,” Lu said.

Lu said Indian troops “illegally trespassed into Chinese territory”.

The military tension over the Himalayan tri-junction between the two countries that share a 3,500-km boundary started more than a month ago when Indian troops stopped Chinese soldiers from building a road on the stretch where India and China connect with Bhutan.

The standoff has hit India-China 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.

“Over the years, China has been trying to get closer and closer to where the tri-junction point ends. It has done things like repair roads, re-tar them and things like that.”

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.

“As long as it was between China and Bhutan about their border dispute, we had no problem. But when it comes to the tri-junction, our interests came into the picture. They want to come down to Batang La.”

Amid the bilateral deadlock, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay confirmed that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was visiting Beijing on July 27-28 for a security meeting of the five-nation BRICS grouping.

Baglay said “India’s approach has been to find a peaceful resolution of all matters concerning the border with China” but refused to share the details on what kind of diplomatic channels the two countries were using to ease the border tension.

“I would not like to go into the details of how and between whom and when such conversations have taken place if they have taken place,” he said, during his weekly briefing.

“Every responsible power, every responsible person and player in the world, of course, prefers peaceful resolution of matters that are in hand,” he said.
On China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) project, Sushma Swaraj said India had opposed it right from the beginning.

“As soon as we learned that they are making CPEC a part of OBOR, we registered our protest,” the Minister said, referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through Pakistan-administered Kashmir that India calls its territory.

She also said that China was building ports and facilities close to Indian maritime boundaries.

“They have built a facility which they call logistic support facility at Djibouti. They have also developed ports at Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Gwadar in Balochistan.

“But to say that India is being surrounded is not correct. India is alert towards its security. No power can surround or corner India,” the Minister said.
In the meantime in Beijing, a former Chineses diplomat who was based in India said that if Indian troops don’t withdraw from Doklam on the disputed border, they should be captured or killed.

Liu Youfa, who was the Chinese Consulate General in Mumbai, said the entry of Indian troops into Doklam, which Beijing says is Chinese territory, amounted to “invasion”.

“According to what I understand of international law, when people in uniform get across the border to move into the territory of the other side, they naturally become enemies who will have to face three consequences: First, they can go out voluntarily, or they may be captured or when the border dispute should escalate, they may be killed,” Liu told CGTN, the English channel of national broadcaster CCTV.

“So, there are three possibilities. So, I think the Chinese side is standing there waiting for the Indian side to make the sensible choice,” he added. “This is the best result for both sides to avoid the eventual confrontation.

“The Chinese side has so far given so much time for the Indian side, for our Indian friends to take sensitive measures,” Liu said.

China calls Doklam as its own. Indian and Bhutan say it belongs to Bhutan.

India sees the Chinese presence in Doklam as a threat since the region is very close to the Siliguri arterial corridor.

“Construction of the road by the Chinese government should not (make you) send your troops across the border,” Liu said.

“India is building airfields and highway networks along the border and you cannot stop China from doing the same.

“China and India are two great neighbours that cannot afford to be hostile to each other. Neither side should take advantage of concessions and the goodwill to move beyond reasonable limits,” he added. (IANS)