Gangtok : Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday arrived in Sikkim to take stock of the security scenario amid a stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops along the border in the area.
According to sources, the Army chief will review the security situation, and may also visit some forward areas.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel breached the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Sikkim sector and destroyed two makeshift Indian Army bunkers earlier this month in Lalten area of Doka La sector.
The Chinese Defence Ministry confirmed the border trouble but accused Indian troops of crossing the boundary into China “in an attempt to prevent a road construction” by the Chinese side.
The Defence Ministry and Army have made no official comment on the incident yet.
Doka La is located in the Chumbi valley, and the area where the aggression took place is not far from the corridor of rail and road that connects to northeastern India.
Also close to the area, Bhutan and China have a border issue along Tibet. China is at present extending a rail line close the the border here.
The Defence Ministry, for a long time has been maintaining that there are no transgressions along the India-China border and the issue is of different perceptions of the boundary. The Defence Minister has repeated the line several times, including in answers to Parliament questions, in response to queries about Chinese transgression in the Indian side.
In reaction to the border face-off, China has refused to let the first batch of around 50 Indian pilgrims, who were supposed to travel to Kailash Mansarovar Lake in Tibet, go through the Nathu La route.
The development comes amid bilateral tensions over various issues, including India boycotting the One Belt One Road summit in Beijing and China scuttling India’s NSG bid.
China remains defiant
China on Thursday said the withdrawal of Indian troops from what it said was its territory was a “precondition” for a “meaningful dialogue” over the border stand-off.
This means the pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, put off by China in the wake of the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops, won’t resume till both sides sort out their row in the area Donglong which Beijing calls its own.
“We urge the Indian side to withdraw troops back to the Indian side of the boundary,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.
“This is the precondition for the settlement of the incident and also the basis for us to conduct a meaningful dialogue.
“I think diplomatic channel of communication remains unimpeded,” he added.
China also brushed aside Bhutan’s protest against Beijing building a road towards a Bhutanese Army camp in Zomplri area of Doklam or Donglong, calling the “construction “just and lawful in Chinese territory”.
Donglong and Doklam is a disputed territory between China and Bhutan where troops from the People’s Liberation Army and the India Army had scuffled.
“Donglong has been Chinese territory since ancient time. This is an indisputable territory and we have adequate legal basis concerning this,” Lu said.
“And this is just a sovereign action by China to conduct the road construction in its territory. This is totally justifiable and lawful.”
