In June, Chinese troops began constructing a road near the trijunction with Bhutan.
In line with Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's stress on patience, restraint and diplomacy to resolve the Dokalam standoff, India on Friday refused to be drawn into a tit-for-tat with Beijing, saying New Delhi wanted peace and tranquillity at the border and would achieve this objective through diplomacy.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay's response comes hours after the Chinese defence ministry delivered another warning. A spokesperson for the defence ministry had insisted that Beijing had "shown utmost goodwill and a high level of restraint with an eye to the general bilateral relations and the regional peace and stability."
"However, goodwill has its principles and restraint has its bottom line," the defence ministry said, upping the ante.
"We continue to engage with China through diplomatic channels to find a mutually acceptable solution," Mr Baglay said, reiterating Sushma Swaraj's statement in parliament yesterday that war is not an answer.
He said India has been coordinating with Bhutan to find a mutually-acceptable solution to the Dokalam standoff and continues to engage with China diplomatically according to Astana consensus, a reference to the broad agreement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kazakhstan capital that they must not let differences become a dispute.
The standoff began on June 16 after Chinese troops began constructing a road near the trijunction with Bhutan, which India says was a unilateral action by Beijing to change the status quo in the area.
New Delhi fears the construction of the road would allow China to cut off India's access to its northeastern states. Ren Guoqiang, a spokesperson of the Chinese defence ministry, in a statement called on the Indian side to swiftly address the situation in a proper manner to restore peace and tranquillity in the border region.