China Angered By Army Chief Bipin Rawat's Remarks On Its 'Salami Slicing'

Beijing: China has taken offense to Army Chief General Bipin Rawat warning of a "two-front war" with China and Pakistan. The Chinese government today said that the army chief's remarks, made yesterday, are at complete odds with the spirit of cooperation that its president Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of when they met this week.

"Just two days ago, President Xi Jinping pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the two countries are each other's development opportunities, not threats," said Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for the Chinese government. "We don't know whether he was authorised to speak those words or it was just his spontaneous words or whether his words represented the position of the Indian government," he said.

Yesterday, the army chief said at a think tank in Delhi that China's "flexing of muscles has started." He accused China of "Salami slicing, taking over territory in a very gradual manner, testing our limits or threshold" and raised the possibility of India having to contend with Pakistan taking advantage of any military conflict between India and China.
 A week ago, India and China ended a lengthy military confrontation and the most aggressive in decades on the remote Doklam Plateau in the eastern Himalayas. The decision by both sides to withdraw their troops from an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation came just in time for PM Modi's visit to Xiamen for a summit of BRICS, a group of emerging market powers that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

At a one-on-one meeting held on the sidelines, PM Modi and President Xi agreed that both sides will do more to prevent border disputes from escalating.

The Doklam confrontation began in mid-june when Indian troops crossed the border at Sikkim to stop China from constructing a new road on the plateau. China claims the area as its own, but India backs Bhutan's claim to it. India said the road would threaten the security of its northeastern states. China has not commented on whether, as part of the de-escalation, it has abandoned its plans for the road. Indian sources say Beijing has removed its bulldozers and other road-making equipment.