Indian officials have said that diplomatic channels are in use to help resolve the conflict (File Photo)
Highlights
- Beijing officials briefed foreign envoys on standoff with India: sources
- China told envoys that its patience "is not indefinite"
- China claims Indian soldiers crossed border, stopped road construction
China claimed today that foreign diplomats in Beijing are "shocked" by India's "illegal trespass" into Chinese territory across the Sikkim border last month which has led to a simmering confrontation between the armies of the two countries.
Sources in India confirmed to NDTV that Beijing officials met with foreign envoys last week to brief them about the stand-off and told them that China's patience "is not indefinite". In similar briefings to envoys in Delhi, Indian officials have said that diplomatic channels are in use to help resolve the conflict that is located in a plateau at the tri-junction of Bhutan, Tibet and India.
China says its soldiers were stopped from constructing a road there last month by Indian soldiers. It says it has every right to build a road on its territory in the region it calls Donglang. Bhutan says the area where the land is being built, which it calls Dokalam, is part of its kingdom; India agrees with that claim and says it had also forewarned China that the road was a security violation because of its proximity to the Chicken's Neck - a thin strip of land that links mainland India to its seven northeastern states.
"The illegal trespass by the Indian border personnel has drawn extensive attention from the international community and many foreign diplomatic missions in China said they were shocked by this," said Lu Kang, a spokesperson for the Chinese government, today.
Raising the rhetoric, a state-run paper in China today warned the country is battle-ready and India will face an "all-out confrontation" along the entire disputed border of nearly 3,500 kms.
The nationalist tabloid Global Times also said China must deploy more troops along the border with India and speed up road construction in Dokalam. "China doesn't fear going to war to safeguard sovereignty either, and will make itself ready for a long-term confrontation," a commentary by Duo Mu said.
Yesterday, state-run television showed the Chinese army conducting live-fire drills in Tibet, without specifying the exact location or the timing of the 11-hour exercise that rehearsed destroying enemy tanks and aircraft.
"China must continue strengthening border construction and speed up troop deployment and construction in the Doklam area. These are legitimate actions of a sovereign country," the Global Times said today.