Janjivan Bureau / Beijing: China today said the “atmosphere” was “not right” for a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, amidst a standoff between the armies of the two countries in the Sikkim section.
The “atmosphere is not right” for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials said ahead of the G20 Summit in the German city of Hamburg from tomorrow.
China and India have been engaged in a standoff in the Dokalam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for the past three weeks after a Chinese Army’s construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.
There were reports that Modi and Xi may meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit to resolve the standoff.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang expressed hope that “India can immediately withdraw the border troops to the Indian side of the boundary to uphold the peace tranquillity of the China and India border areas”.
“I think this is the pre-condition for any meaningful peace talks between the two sides,” he told a media briefing here when asked about the meeting between Modi and Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Geng, however, said the BRICS leaders meeting which will be attended by Modi and Xi will take place on the sidelines of the summit tomorrow.
On the possibility of a Xi-Modi meeting, Geng said relevant information will be released in a timely manner.
China’s state-run media yesterday had quoted Chinese analysts as saying that Beijing would be forced to use a “military way” to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India refuses to listen to the “historical lessons” being offered by it.
Meanwhile, making it clear that it will not buckle under heated rhetoric from China, India on Wednesday said a diplomatic resolution resulting in a Chinese pullback from Bhutanese territory would resolve the current border stand-off near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction.
“This issue or tension should be resolved at the diplomatic level…It can be resolved diplomatically, which is what we want,” said minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre, speaking to journalists on Wednesday.
“The Chinese troops should stay where they were earlier…They have entered Bhutan’s territory…they should not intrude into Bhutanese territory. This is our security concern and this is our stand,” he added.
Pointing to Bhutan’s recent statement, which held China accused of trying to unilaterally alter the status quo by constructing a road inside Bhutanese territory in violation of all agreements, Bhamre said, “Understand what Bhutan is saying. This tension can be resolved only at a diplomatic level; across the table, we can solve all the problems.”
