Rights and wrongs clear, India must pull back to end Doklam standoff: China foreign minister
China has bristled at what it says is India's intervention in its dispute with Bhutan, and has demanded that Indian troops return to India's side of the boundary for any dialogue to take place.
In Short
- China has said India must pull back to end Doklam standoff.
- China steps up rhetoric days before NSA Ajit Doval arrives in Beijing.
- "India has admitted it crossed into Chinese territory," says China foreign minister.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that the "simple solution" to end the standoff at the Doklam plateau on the India-China-Bhutan trijunction was for India to "conscientiously pull back its troops".
Wang said in a statement that "the rights and wrongs are very clear" and that "even senior Indian officials have openly stated that Chinese troops did not enter into the Indian boundary."
"The solution is very simple," the Chinese Foreign Minister said, "and that is India must conscientiously pull back its troops". He was quoted as making this comment - his first on the standoff - in an interview in Bangkok, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry website.
Wang also claimed that "India has admitted it crossed into the Chinese territory."
However, Delhi and Bhutan say that the land in question on the Doklam plateau is disputed, and that China has changed the status quo by building a road on the plateau. China has bristled at what it says is India's intervention in its dispute with Bhutan, and has demanded that Indian troops return to India's side of the boundary for any dialogue to take place.
The Chinese Foreign Minister is now the highest-ranked Chinese official to comment on the stand-off, and his remarks come a day after the People's Liberation Army issued its strongest comments yet on the row, telling India to "not harbour any illusions".
The stepped up rhetoric from China comes days before National Security Adviser Ajit Doval arrives in Beijing on Thursday for a BRICS NSA's meeting.
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