BEIJING: As the standoff in Doklam entered the third month, China on Wednesday renewed its call for India to withdraw troops from the area.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said withdrawal of troops by India was a precondition for any dialogue between both sides.India is for simultaneous withdrawal of troops from Doklam in Sikkim sector - which is at the tri-junction of India-China-Bhutan.The crisis began on June 16 when the Indian Army prevented Chinese troops from building a road in Doklam.India says the area belongs to close neighbour Bhutan , but Beijing says the area belongs to it and has asked India to stay out of its boundary dispute with Bhutan. </s> Beijing: China on Friday called for a "meaningful dialogue" with the Indian government in connection with a border row in the Sikkim sector and asked it to withdraw its troops from Doklam, insisting that Beijing has "indisputable sovereignty" over the area.

"Diplomatic channels are unimpeded between India and China for talks on the standoff in Sikkim," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

"The pressing issue is to have a meaningful dialogue for the withdrawal of Indian troops from the Doklam area in Sikkim sector," Kand added.

The reaction from the Chinese Foreign Ministry comes in the wake of a stand-off between the two militaries after the Indian Army blocked construction of the road by China in Doklam, a disputed territory between China and Bhutan also known as Donglong.

Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.

Lu also refuted Bhutan's allegation that China violated agreements by constructing a road inside its territory

 .

 In a strongly worded statement, Bhutan had also asked China to stop constructing the motorable road from Dokola in the Doklam area towards the Bhutan Army camp at Zompelri which it says affects the process of demarcating the boundary between the two countries.

But Lu said China had "indisputable sovereignty over the Donklam area." </s> Amid the standoff at Doklam plateau in Sikkim sector between Indian and Chinese troops, India on Friday told Bhutan to not get intimidated by Beijing’s angry rhetoric, even as Bhutan urged New Delhi to amicably resolve the border stand-off with China. The sources at a meeting of BIMSTEC nations told The Indian Express that these were the broad contours of the discussion between Indian and Bhutanese leaders and officials. Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal are members of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also met her Bhutanese counterpart Damcho Dorji. This was the minister-level meeting between Bhutan and India ever since the genesis of the Doklam border stand-off in June. The sources also added that both India and Bhutan discussed the Doklam issue and exchanged notes on the “way forward”. Dorji said after the meeting: “We hope the situation in Doklam will be resolved peacefully and amicably.” He stayed away from giving specific details. Also Read: Don’t be intimidated by China: India to Bhutan

India behaving like mature power in Doklam standoff, says US expert

A top American defence expert has opined that India is “behaving like a mature power” in the Doklam standoff and making China look like an adolescent throwing a tamper tantrum. Professor of strategy at US Naval War College James R Holmes said: “New Delhi has done things right thus far, neither backing away from the dispute nor replying in kind to Beijing’s over-the-top rhetoric. It is behaving as the mature power and making China look like the adolescent throwing a temper tantrum.”

Army raises alert level in Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese officials meet US counterparts

As China continues to engage in belligerent rhetoric over the Doklam standoff, the Indian Army has cautiously put its units in Arunachal Pradesh on a higher alert, putting some troops in the state ahead of their usual locations but still short of the Chinese border.

Sources revealed to the The Indian Express that, as a precautionary measure, many units of the Dimpaur-headquartered 3 Corps and Tezpur-headquartered 4 Corps have been placed on “higher alert in a No War No Peace mode”.

The sources also emphasised that these measures are not related to to any major build-up of China’s military in Tibet. The Indian side has not observed any major movement of China’s military so far. The Indian Express had reported earlier that in the eastern sector, Army units in Sikkim have already been staged forward as they undertake their Operational Alert this month which has been advanced from October. Also Read: Cautiously, Army raises alert level in Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese officials meet US counterparts

China, India must work to resolve Doklam standoff, says US commander

A top American commander said today that the ongoing Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese troops is a matter of concern, even as he asked both countries to work together and resolve the issue diplomatically. India and China have been locked in a face-off in the Doklam area for more than 50 days after Indian troops stopped the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from building a road in the area.

Commander of the US Pacific Command Admiral Harry B Harris echoed the State Department’s view that the US encourages the two countries to resolve their differences diplomatically. In a statement to PTI, Admiral Harris said “Well, I think that any time you have two great powers at odds across a common border, that’s an area of concern. Of course, it’s potentially dangerous.”

“But I think that I would echo those sentiments of our own government leaders, America’s national leadership, that we encourage both India and China to engage in diplomacy, to help reduce these tensions,” Admiral Harris added.

Chinese Navy eyes Indian Ocean as part of PLA’s plan to extend its reach amid Doklam standoff

Amid the ongoing Doklam standoff, Chinese Navy has reached out to India to maintain security China in Indian Ocean amid increasing concerns in New Delhi over the growing presence of the PLA fleet in India’s backyard. In a first, People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) threw open its strategic South Sea Fleet (SSF) base in the coastal city of Zhanjiang to a group of Indian journalists. “It is my opinion China and India can make joint contributions to the safety and security of the Indian Ocean,” Capt Liang Tianjun, Deputy Chief of General Office of China’s SSF said. His remarks came as China’s Navy embarked on a massive expansion to extend its global reach. Also Read: Chinese Navy eyes Indian Ocean as part of PLA’s plan to extend its reach

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a stand-off in the Doklam area of the Sikkim sector for seven weeks now after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the disputed area. China claimed that they were constructing the road within their territory and has been demanding immediate pull-out of the Indian troops from the disputed Doklam plateau. New Delhi has expressed concern over the road building, apprehending that it may allow Chinese troops to cut India’s access to its northeastern states.

India has conveyed to the Chinese government that the road construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for it. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doklam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.

Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim. China also claims that Thimphu has no dispute with Beijing over Doklam.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App </s> In the midst of face off between India and Chinese troops over road construction on the borders of a plateau in Bhutan, which China has been claiming, has said that the withdrawal from the Doklam plateau by the Indian troops was prerequisite for any dialogue between two nations and prevent escalation, Indian Express report said.

It warned Army chief General Bipin Rawat to “stop clamouring for war”, calling it as “extremely irresponsible” of his recent statement saying India was ready for a “two-and-a-half front war”. Speaking to reporters, PLA spokesperson Col Wu Qian, said China hoped “particular person in the Indian Army could learn from historical lessons and stop such clamouring for war.”

“Bhutan has conveyed to the Chinese side, both on the ground and through the diplomatic channel, that the construction of the road inside Bhutanese territory is a direct violation of the agreements and affects the process of demarcating the boundary between our two countries. Bhutan hopes that the status quo in the Doklam area will be maintained as before 16 June 2017”, Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quoted as saying by Indian Express as saying.

Thimphu said in statement on June 16, “the Chinese Army started constructing a motorable road from Dokola in the Doklam area towards the Bhutan Army camp at Zompelri”. It said boundary talks are ongoing between Bhutan and China and “we have written agreements of 1988 and 1998 stating that the two sides agree to maintain peace and tranquility in their border areas pending a final settlement on the boundary question, and to maintain status quo on the boundary as before March 1959. The agreements also state that the two sides will refrain from taking unilateral action, or use of force, to change the status quo of the boundary.”

However, China has maintained that Doklam has been a part of China since earlier times, which is an “indisputable fact supported by historical evidence and the ground situation. China’s activities in Doklam are acts of sovereignty on its own territory. It is completely justified and lawful.” </s> New Delhi: India on Thursday made a renewed pitch for a “peaceful resolution” of the Doklam standoff with China through diplomatic channels, insisting that differences should not become disputes. The assertion by New Delhi came on a day China said diplomatic channels remained “unimpeded” to discuss the issue provided India withdraws its troops from Doklam.

Ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay told reporters that India has been in “close contact” with the Bhutan government on the unfolding developments, noting that diplomatic channels to resolve the issue with China have not broken off. When referred to China’s demand that status quo be restored in Doklam, he said India has also been asking for it. “There is a certain approach to resolve tri-junction issues and that it should not be altered unilaterally.”

He said Bhutan’s demand to China asking it withdraw its troops from Doklam has also been India’s stance. Baglay said India is for resolving border issues with China peacefully and referred to the understanding between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting in Astana last month that differences between the two countries should not be allowed to become disputes. The two leaders had met in Astana on the sidelines of the summit of Shanghai Organisation Cooperation (SCO).

“Basically, India’s approach has been to find peaceful resolution of all matters concerning the border with China,” he said, adding, “Diplomatic channels are available and not broken off.” Asked about China ratcheting up rhetoric against India, Baglay quoted 15th-century saint Kabir, indicating it was not necessary to take note of everything that has been coming from the Chinese side. “It is obvious that every responsible power, every responsible person and player in the world, of course, prefers peaceful resolution of matters that are in hand,” Baglay said.

Earlier on Thursday, China said diplomatic channels with India remained “unimpeded” to discuss the Doklam standoff but at the same time reiterated that the withdrawal of the Indian troops from the area is a “precondition” for any meaningful dialogue. Asked about China’s comment, Baglay said diplomatic channels remaining available implies that it is a process. The MEA spokesperson also said at least one flag meeting between the two sides had taken place after the face-off, which began on 16 June. “I am aware of flag meeting taking place after June 16. Now whether there was one or more, I am not aware of.” On whether India has briefed other countries on the issue, Baglay said, “It is not appropriate for me to comment on diplomatic discussions and interactions that take place as a regular matter and also on sensitive issues of this nature.”

“I would not like to go into the details of how and what and with whom such conversations have taken place, if they have taken place,” he said. To a question on whether India can explore going to the UN if diplomacy fails to resolve the standoff, Baglay said he cannot reply to hypothetical questions but added, “In a sense you have answered your own question.”

Asked about comments by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Jammu and Kashmir counterpart Mehbooba Mufti that China could be behind troubles in their states, Baglay evaded a reply and only said cross-border terrorism was the root of the problem in Jammu and Kashmir. Baglay also confirmed that national security advisor Ajit Doval will travel to Beijing to attend a Brics meeting on 27 and 28 July. </s> BEIJING: China on Thursday reiterated that it won't talk to India until New Delhi withdraws troops from Doklam where both armies have been locked in a stand-off for more than a month.China has repeatedly said the withdrawal of troops from Doklam was the precondition for any "meaningful dialogue" with India over the festering border row in the Sikkim section of the border."Our diplomatic channel is unimpeded and the withdrawal of the Indian border troops is the precondition for any meaningful dialogue and the communication between the two sides," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a press conference."The incident that happened in Sikkim section is quite clear that the Indian border troops illegally trespassed into Chinese territory," Lu added.The borders of India, Bhutan and China meet at Doklam, which holds strategic importance to all three.China calls Doklam its own but India and Bhutan call it Bhutanese territory.India, a close ally of Bhutan, stopped the Chinese Army from building a road in Doklam in June, leading to the face-off between New Delhi and Beijing Now both armies are eyeball-to-eyeball at Doklam. India says it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically. </s> Troops from China’s People’s Liberation Army continue to deploy construction equipment in an effort to drive a dirt track through the strategic Doklam plateau despite a three week stand-off with the Indian Army and the Royal Bhutan Army, senior Indian government officials said on Friday. The PLA’s road works, the officials said, are aimed at bringing a road close to Doka La, India’s last military post on the junction of its boundary with Bhutan and China.

Both sides have reinforced their positions amidst a continuing war of words between Beijing and New Delhi. Indian military officials rejected claims that there were signs of imminent conflict in the region — the site of intense skirmishes in 1967, provoked by similar disputes over border works.

In first official comments on the crisis, New Delhi admitted that its troops had blocked PLA road works inside Bhutan territory claimed by China, saying “such construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for India”.

India and Bhutan, the government said, have been in “continuous contact” over the Doklam developments. “In coordination with the Bhutanese government, Indian personnel, who were present at general area Doka La, approached the Chinese construction party and urged them to desist from changing the status quo… these efforts continue,” a government statement said.

It said the matter has been “under discussion” at the diplomatic level, both in New Delhi and Beijing. Sources said that Indian ambassador Vijay Gokhale had conveyed India’s concerns in Beijing, while senior officials in the Ministry of External Affairs have reached out to their Chinese counterparts. “It was also the subject of a Border Personnel Meeting at Nathu La on 20 June,” the government said.

The Indian side has underlined that the two governments had agreed in 2012 that the tri-junction boundary points between India, China and third countries will be finalised in consultation with the countries concerned. “Any attempt, therefore, to unilaterally determine tri-junction points is in violation of this understanding,” it said.

In Beijing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said diplomatic channels with India were “unimpeded” for “meaningful talks” over the military stand-off but maintained that Indian troops must first withdraw from the Doklam area over which Beijing has “indisputable sovereignty”. He said Indian troops “trespassed” the recognised delineated boundary between China and India on June 18.

Donglong (the name China uses for Doklam), he said, had been a traditional pasture for Tibetan residents. “We have exercised good administration over the area and before the 1960s, people from Bhutan required consent from China for cattle grazing and the Tibetan archives still have receipts of the same,” Lu said.

“Frankly, this crisis has surprised the government”, a senior Indian diplomatic official said, “coming after what New Delhi had seen as a willingness on China’s part to iron out problems in the relationship. During their recent summit meeting in Astana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told President Xi Jinping that we did not want differences to want disputes, and he agreed”.

Bhutan’s Army, Indian military sources said, has remained in close touch with their Indian counterparts, but has not operationally deployed in the effort to push back Chinese road-building in Doklam. “Bhutan is in a very uncomfortable position,” a diplomat said. “It is acutely sensitive about the intrusion on its sovereignty, but also does not want a crisis to break out”.

The Doklam plateau was first claimed by China in the late 1950s, in the build-up to its 1962 war with India. Ever since 1988, PLA patrols have regularly cut past Bhutan’s claim line, the Sinche La ridge, using a network of dirt tracks which lead up to Chele La post, the country’s permanent position on the Zompelri ridge, which leads westward from India’s Doka La post.

Indian government sources said the ongoing crisis began on June 16, when the PLA moved a substantial earthmoving unit on to the Doklam plateau, and began building a road leading towards Doka La. Royal Bhutan Army soldiers from the Zompelri ridge, the sources said, attempted to intervene, but were pushed back on to the ridge.

However, in response to a request from the beleaguered Bhutanese troops, Indian soldiers on Doka La moved down the ridge, and obstructed the border works, leading to a stand-off.

Indian Army sources said this confrontation had been preceded by a scuffle between a PLA road construction unit and Indian troops on the night June 4-5, which had resulted in minor injuries to two Chinese personnel. China then used earthmoving equipment to demolish a two-decade-old earth-and-rock bunker near Doka La, at a position Indian soldiers refer to as Laltain.

Troops, military sources said, are now located on either side of a position in Chinese-claimed Bhutanese territory below Doka La, called Turning Point, in a face-to-face position, using banners and loud-hailers to assert their claims.

“No pushing and shoving is taking place”, a government official insisted. “The video that has been doing the rounds is archival, not from the current crisis, and completely misrepresents the situation.”

New Delhi, an Indian diplomat said, has told Beijing that its construction works mark an effort to unilaterally determine a three-country junction marked a violation of written accords arrived at between special representatives of the two governments.

In addition, New Delhi has rejected Beijing’s claims, made in statements by its Foreign Ministry, that the India-China boundary in Sikkim is settled, noting that the two countries have yet to agree to demarcation of their borders.

Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region, experts say, could be aimed at pushing Bhutan to agree to swap Doklam — a springboard for potential Indian strikes on China’s road and future rail links north to Lhasa — for other territory it has asserted claims to in the north.

Though both sides appear committed to avoid any escalation of the stand-off, the history of the 1967 crisis in the Chumbi Valley — the same territory now at stake — shows disputes over border construction can have serious outcomes. In that case, India responded to Chinese trench construction on its side of the boundary by laying a barbed-wire fence, leading the PLA to open fire with machine guns.

Indian Army units, well positioned on high ground above the Sebu La pass, were able to bring down accurate artillery fire, destroying several bunkers and inflicting large numbers of casualties. Later that year, a scuffle on the Cho La pass again led to clashes, in which the PLA was pushed back three kilometres. The initial attack, scholar Taylor Fravel recorded, was not authorised by China’s all-powerful Central Military Commission, and then Premier Zhou Enlai subsequently ordered the PLA not to open fire unless fired upon.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App </s> Face-offs between Chinese and Indian troops over road construction on the borders of a 269-sq km plateau in Bhutan claimed by China has sparked off what experts are describing as the worst crisis in relations between New Delhi and Beijing since troops from the two countries confronted each other at Daulat Beg Oldi in 2013, diplomatic sources told The Indian Express.

The clash on the Doklam plateau, which overlooks the strategic Chumbi Valley, Indian diplomatic sources said, involved troops serving with India’s Brigade-sized mission at Ha — a formation meant to train Bhutan’s armed forces, but which also deploys alongside the Royal Bhutan Army to patrol its frontiers against China.

“Even though India has long had a presence along the Bhutan-China border, it has never acted in defence of its ally’s interests. The Chinese are very upset by the Indian assertion, and are seeking to push back against what they see as a line having been crossed,” a senior Indian official said. (A PTI report said Army chief General Bipin Rawat will visit Sikkim Thursday to take stock of operational matters and interact with top commanders in the formation headquarters. The agency also quoted Vetsop Namgyel, Bhutan’s ambassador to India, saying his country had issued a demarche to China over the construction of a road towards its Army camp in Zomplri area of Doklam and asked Beijing to restore status quo by stopping work immediately.)

Meanwhile, Beijing upped the ante, telling New Delhi to “correct its errors” before reopening of the Nathu La Pass for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims can be considered. China also described the construction of the border road as “legitimate”, maintaining that it was being built on Chinese territory that does not belong to India or Bhutan and no other country had the right to interfere.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang indicated that the point of friction was in the Donglong (Doklam) region, which he stressed belonged to China. “It is reported that the incidents happened at Donglong, (that it) is part of the disputed territory between China and Bhutan. The region is part of China and is indisputable. China’s construction is a legitimate activity. If India wants to raise an issue about it, I would say that it doesn’t belong to India and neither does it belong to Bhutan,” he said.

According to Lu, Indian troops crossed the boundary on the Sikkim side into Chinese territory. “This is different to what was before in India-China boundary. Bhutan is an internationally recognised country and its sovereignty is to be respected. Even if the boundary is delimited, no third party should interfere and make irresponsible comments,” he said.

Few details have emerged on the clash but two Indian officials said that Beijing has privately complained that Indian troops attacked a road-construction unit on the night of June 4-5, leading to an unarmed brawl in which two Chinese personnel sustained minor injuries.

Later, on the morning of June 5, Chinese troops retaliated in strength, destroying Indian sangars, or simple rock-and-earth bunkers, built on the Bhutan side of the de-facto border, near an Indian-guarded position identified by the code-name Laltain, or Lantern.

Neither country has officially admitted to the clash having taken place, but an opaquely worded June 26 statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Indian troops had crossed “the China-India boundary at the Sikkim section and entered the Chinese territory, obstructing Chinese border troops’ normal activities in Doklam”.

The Foreign Ministry did not explain how Indian troops had succeeded in traversing several dozen kilometres of mountain terrain required to move from Sikkim to Doklam — wording Indian diplomats said was likely intended to avoid drawing Bhutan into the controversy.

Beijing’s strategic equities in the Doklam plateau have multiplied in recent years, with the upgrading of the road from Lhasa to Yadong, which allows the 500-km journey to be made in just seven hours. The road, which passes through Bhutan’s territory, has significantly enhanced China’s military logistics in the region, which faces out on to India’s defences in the so-called Chicken’s Neck, through which all roads to the North-East must pass.

In addition, China is now in the process of extending the Beijing-Lhasa high speed railway line to Yadong, and is expected to begin test runs in less than two years. Beijing had, in 1996, offered to renounce its claims over the Pasam-Lung and Jakar-Lung valleys in northern Bhutan, 495 sq km, in return for Thimphu ceding its claims to the Doklam plateau. It was reported to have also pressured Thimphu by saying it would not agree to a border deal until Bhutan allowed it to open a diplomatic mission in that country.

Former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon had travelled to Thimphu in 2013, amidst rumours that Bhutan was considering such an arrangement. However, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhutan in 2014, its Prime Minister, Tshering Tobgay, moved to quell the rumours, saying “We don’t even have diplomatic relations. How can you open an embassy without diplomatic relations?”

The genesis of the Doklam plateau crisis date back to the 1950, as tensions between China and India began to rise. Even in 1959, a Chinese Ministry Foreign Affairs document issued on December 26 that year records, “concerning the boundary between China and Bhutan, there is only a certain discrepancy between the delineation on the maps of the two sides in the sector south of the so-called McMahon Line.”

In other words, China agreed that there were no discrepancies between its maps and those of Bhutan in the country’s west, where the Doklam plateau lies. But in 1960, China’s leadership sparked off panic in Bhutan by asserting, in a statement, that the “Bhutanese, Sikkimese and Ladakhis form a united family in Tibet. They have always been subject to Tibet and to the great motherland of China”. Then, in 1966, Tibetan nomads entered the pastures of the Doklam plateau, escorted by People’s Liberation Army guards, provoking fears of an attempt to occupy the territory.

 In 1988, things came to a head when the PLA crossed into Bhutan and took control of the Chumbi Valley, below the Doklam plateau. In the years since, PLA troops have been reported to have regularly threatened Royal Bhutan Army guards on the plateau, and sometimes occupying their posts for several hours or even days.

With the standoff continuing, an opinion article in China’s state-run Global Times stated that India needed to be “taught rules” of handling boundary disputes. “China avoids making an issue of border disputes which has indulged India’s unruly provocations. This time the Indian side needs to be taught the rules. India cannot afford a showdown with China on border issues. It lags far behind China in terms of national strength and the so-called strategic support for it from the US is superficial,” the article stated.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App </s> BEIJING: China renewed a call for India to immediately withdraw its troops from disputed territory high in the Himalayan mountains, following a report that Chinese forces recently held live firing drills in the region.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that Indian forces had to leave the area to avoid an “escalation of the situation.”

“We have stated many times that we hope the Indian side will get a clear understanding of the situation (and) immediately take measures to withdraw the troops that illegally crossed the border back to the Indian side of the border,” Lu said at a regular news briefing Tuesday.

Beijing and New Delhi have engaged in more than a month of saber-rattling as officials from both sides talk of a potential clash even bloodier than their 1962 war that left thousands dead.

Lu’s comments came after Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported late last week that an army brigade equipped with rocket launchers, heavy machine guns and mortars recently practiced a simulated live-firing assault on an enemy position in Tibet. The drills also involved tracking and targeting enemy aircraft, the report said.

The current standoff is in the southernmost part of Tibet in an area also claimed by Indian ally Bhutan, although the report did not say exactly when or where the drills took place.

The slow-motion crisis is expected to be discussed when Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visits Beijing on July 27-28 to take part in a security forum under the BRICS group of large developing nations that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

However, with nationalist sentiments among the public running high in both nations, neither side is expected to back down before the bitter Himalayan winter arrives in a few months, according to experts.

China insists Indian troops withdraw before talks can take place to settle what has become the longest protracted standoff in recent years between nuclear-armed neighbors who share a 3,500-kilometer (2,174-mile) border, much of it contested.

The most recent dispute flared in June after Chinese teams began building a road onto the Doklam, or Donglang in Chinese, Plateau that is claimed by both China and Bhutan, which cooperates closely with India on security matters.

Although China and Bhutan have been negotiating the precise border for decades without serious incident, the tiny Himalayan kingdom turned this time to help from New Delhi, which sent troops across the border from the northeastern state of Sikkim.

China retaliated by closing a nearby mountain pass that Indian pilgrims use to reach Mount Kailash, a sacred Hindu and Buddhist site in Tibet. China’s foreign ministry has also presented to reporters historical documents that it says prove China’s claims to the plateau.

Although the Doklam Plateau is not part of Indian territory, New Delhi has been particularly sensitive to Chinese building activity in a region with strategic significance.
Amid a stalemate between India and China over Doklam, disputed between the latter and Bhutan, China renews a call for India to withdraw its troops from Doklam. It follows reports claiming China held live firing drills in the region.