The Foreign ministry of China has recently released a map claiming that Indian troops trespassed into its territory in Sikkim region which is currently in dispute with India and Bhutan’s perception of the boundaries in the region. In a report published by Hindustan Times, the map was posted by the Chinese section of foreign ministry on its website on Friday. “The map is especially different from the Indian perception of the Line of Actual Control in the depiction of the strategic tri-junction of India, Bhutan and China,” the report said.

The areas far south which is claimed in the map is what India says to be till Batang La, while Beijing has extended its claim to the territory till Mount Gipmochi. The situation get further complex with Bhutan’s claims. Both China and Bhutan have a territorial issue over the Dongland region where the current standoff began on June 16. The report also said that India has acknowledged on Friday that its troops has worked in sync with the Bhutan government to ask a Chinese construction party to desist from changing the current situation by constructing a road in the Dongland area. India and Bhutan have even asked China to maintain the status quo and New Delhi reasoned it by saying that the construction activity has serous security implications.

New Delhi has also stressed that any move to unilaterally determine tri-junction points violates the 2012 India-China agreement which was signed to finalise the boundary in this region in collaboration with all related countries. China, on the other hand, says that the Donglang area has been with it since ancient times.

“There is solid legal evidence to support the delimitation of the Sikkim section of the China-India boundary. It is stated in article one of the Convention Between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet (1890) that the boundary of Sikkim and Tibet shall be the crest of the mountain range separating the waters flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluent from the waters flowing into the Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other rivers of Tibet,” Chinese media reported after the standoff in Sikkim began.

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“The line commences at Mount Gipmochi on the Bhutan frontier, and follows the above-mentioned water-parting to the point where it meets Nepal territory,” the report added. It also quoted the Chinese foreign ministry saying that the region where Indian border troops have trespassed belongs to their territory. </s> China had mentioned that Donglang is being considered in their territory since “ancient times”. (Photo: China's Foreign Ministry)

Beijing: Amid standoff in Sikkim, China on Tuesday released a map to support its claim that Indian troops entered their territory; only to reveal that the territory quoted is actually under contention.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the picture released by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ku Lang showing India troopers’ ‘incursion’ in China, is basically a territory claimed by both India and Bhutan. The map which China has posted on their foreign ministry website is also far different from the Indian perception of Line of Actual Control (LoAC) between India, China and Bhutan.

Of the ‘trespassed’ area quoted by China, India has claims on land till Batang La, whereas China asserted that their territory is till Mount Gipmochi. The situation becomes more intricate with Bhutan’s claims. Historically, Bhutan and China have a dispute over the area, Donglang or Doklam. However, China had mentioned that Donglang is being considered in their territory since “ancient times”.

The situation worsened when China started constructing a road near Sikkim Sector. India reacted by saying that any such move to “unilaterally determine tri-junction points” violates a 2012 India-China agreement. It further said that the boundary in the region should be finalised after consulting with all concerned countries.

New Delhi, maintaining its stance over border dispute, noted that Indian troops in co-ordination with Bhutan had asked Chinese government to “desist from changing the status quo” by building a road in Donglang area.

Reiterating their claims, Chinese state media earlier had said that there is solid legal evidence to prove that Indian troops trespassed in their territory.

“It is stated in Article one of the Convention Between Great Britain and China relating Sikkim and Tibet (1890) that ‘the boundary of Sikkim and Tibet shall be the crest of the mountain range separating the waters flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluents from the waters flowing into the Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other rivers of Tibet”, said Chinese state media quoting a report.

The HT report further added that the Chinese state media claimed that the line commences at Mount Gipmochi on the Bhutan frontier, and follows the above-mentioned water-parting to the point where it meets Nepal territory.

China had asked Indian soldiers to ‘leave their territory’ for dialogue to ensue. It had also asked India to learn from history referring to 1962 Sino-India war over Arunachal Pradesh.

However, this is not the first time China has claimed India’s portion to be their territory as, in 2013, China carried out an incursion on Indo-China border near Arunachal Pradesh. </s> China has released a map showing the region in the Sikkim sector as its territory and to back its claims of Indian troops "trespassing" the Chinese boundary.

The map, released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry late on Friday evening, shows the far south of the region, the ownership of which is yet to be agreed between Bhutan and China.

The blue arrow shows Doka La pass where Indian troops "crossed the border".

The map shows Doka La - called by China - as part of

is at a tri-junction border of Bhutan, China, and India, where People's Liberation Army troops and the Indian Army faced off.

Bhutan has accused China of building a road in Donglong, which Thimphu says is part of its area.

China has rejected the claims and asked New Delhi to withdraw troops from the region.

India has said Beijing's action to "unilaterally determine tri-junction points" is in violation of a 2012 India-China agreement.

According to the agreement, the boundary will be decided by consulting all the concerned parties.

The release of the map comes as China has maintained that locals have been traditionally herding cattle in area, which it said is fact enough to prove that the region belongs to Beijing.

China was responding to the Bhutanese government's accusations against China of not respecting border agreements and constructing a road on the disputed territory located between the two countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said here on Friday: "We are exercising complete and comprehensive administration over the Doklam (Donglong) region and our border troops and the residents around the border are herding their cattle along this."

"This evidence is recognised by the Bhutan side," Lu added.

"From historical evidence, we can see that Doklam has been a traditional pasture for the Tibetan residents and we have exercised good administration over the area.

"Before the 1960s, if Bhutan residents around the border wanted to put their cattle they had to get the approval from China," Lu said citing Chinese history.

Beijing has asked New Delhi to withdraw troops, reiterating it as a precondition to settle an ongoing stand-off in India's Sikkim sector, where the two countries share a little over 200 km of border.

Following the face-off, China has suspended the pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet where Indians travel via Nathu La Pass, which is shut now.

In response, India on Friday said it has told China that the building of a road by Chinese troops in the region will have "serious security implications for India" and urged Beijing "not to change the status quo unilaterally".

"India is deeply concerned at the recent Chinese actions and has conveyed to the Chinese government that such construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for India," an External Affairs Ministry statement said in New Delhi. </s> China has released a map showing the Donglong region in the Sikkim sector as its territory and to back its claims of Indian troops “trespassing” the Chinese boundary. The map, released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry late on Friday evening, shows the Chinese territory far south of the Donglong region, the ownership of which is yet to be agreed between Bhutan and China. The blue arrow shows Doka La pass where Indian troops “crossed the border”.

China alleges Indian troops crossed the border on June 18. The map shows Doka La – called Donglong by China – as part of Chinese territory. Donglong is at a tri-junction border of Bhutan, China, and India, where People’s Liberation Army troops and the Indian Army faced off.

Bhutan has accused China of building a road in Donglong, which Thimphu says is part of its area. China has rejected the claims and asked New Delhi to withdraw troops from the region. India has said Beijing’s action to “unilaterally determine tri-junction points” is in violation of a 2012 India-China agreement.

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According to the agreement, the boundary will be decided by consulting all the concerned parties. The release of the map comes as China has maintained that locals have been traditionally herding cattle in Donglong area, which it said is fact enough to prove that the region belongs to Beijing. China was responding to the Bhutanese government’s accusations against China of not respecting border agreements and constructing a road on the disputed territory located between the two countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said here on Friday: “We are exercising complete and comprehensive administration over the Doklam (Donglong) region and our border troops and the residents around the border are herding their cattle along this.”

“This evidence is recognised by the Bhutan side,” Lu added. “From historical evidence, we can see that Doklam has been a traditional pasture for the Tibetan residents and we have exercised good administration over the area. “Before the 1960s, if Bhutan residents around the border wanted to put their cattle they had to get the approval from China,” Lu said citing Chinese history.

Beijing has asked New Delhi to withdraw troops, reiterating it as a precondition to settle an ongoing stand-off in India’s Sikkim sector, where the two countries share a little over 200 km of border. Following the face-off, China has suspended the pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet where Indians travel via Nathu La Pass, which is shut now. In response, India on Friday said it has told China that the building of a road by Chinese troops in the Donglong region will have “serious security implications for India” and urged Beijing “not to change the status quo unilaterally”. “India is deeply concerned at the recent Chinese actions and has conveyed to the Chinese government that such construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for India,” an External Affairs Ministry statement said in New Delhi. </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> Sino-Indian ties, already beset with acrimony and discord, took another hit last week after Indian troops stopped Chinese attempts to build a road near the Sikkim-Bhutan border. What led to this

 stand-off and the subsequent rancour and sabre-rattling? Could it escalate into a full-blown conflict?

Perhaps it’s America. Perhaps it’s badminton,” joked a senior Indian diplomat, when asked about the Chinese intrusion into Bhutan last week and the subsequent face-off with Indian forces. He was referring to Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth’s recent victory over Olympic and two-time world champion Chen Long at the Australian Open Superseries final in Sydney, and PV Sindhu’s win against Sun Yu of China in the finals of China Open, making her the third non-Chinese athlete to win that tournament in the last 30 years.

But jokes aside, the already strained Sino-Indian ties took another hit last week after Indian troops stopped Chinese attempts to build a road near the Sikkim-Bhutan border. And in an unprecedented role reversal, China has demanded that India remove its soldiers from ‘Chinese territory’. The last time such a request was made was probably way back in the early 1960s following Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s “forward policy”, aimed at staking claim to disputed areas of the Sino-India border. But since the brief yet decisive border war of 1962, it has mostly been India accusing the PLA of “transgressions” or “intrusions” on Indian soil.

Even more unprecedented is the fact that the “Chinese territory’’ from which Beijing wants Indian troops withdrawn, is controlled by Bhutan, that calls it the Doklam Plateau. China, however, calls it the Donglang region, and insists that the area—near the tri-junction of Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet—belongs to Tibet.

This 270 sq km plateau extends to the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction overlooking the vulnerable Chicken’s Neck, or the Siliguri Corridor, a narrow stretch of land flanked by Nepal in the west, Bangladesh in the east, and Bhutan in the north. Anyone controlling the area could completely sever northeastern India from the mainland.

The Indian Army not only trains the Royal Bhutan Army, but also conducts joint patrols along the Bhutan-China border. Initial reports said that a Chinese road-building party in the area had been challenged by such a joint patrol, forcing them to stop. The next day, Chinese troops responded by razing a deserted Indian outpost near Sikkim. It also blocked a batch of some 50 pilgrims undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Nathu La—a pass in Sikkim few kilometres from Nathu La—and said the “route’s reopening entirely depends on whether the Indian side can correct its mistakes in a timely manner.” Nathu La was opened to pilgrims in 2015. Pilgrims taking the older and longer route from Uttarakhand have not been stopped so far.

“This time the Indian side needs to be taught the rules,” threatened an editorial in the Global Times. Bhutan, which does not have diplomatic relations with China, also issued a demarche to Beijing, claiming Doklam as its own. “Doklam has been part of China since ancient times... It does not belong to Bhutan, still less India. China’s construction of road in Doklam is an act of sovereignty on its own territory,” declared a Chinese foreign ministry official.

In a tersely worded clarification on June 30, India “underlined that the two Governments had in 2012 reached agreement that the tri-junction boundary points between India, China and third countries will be finalised in consultation with the concerned countries. Any attempt, therefore, to unilaterally determine tri-junction points is in violation of this understanding. India is deeply concerned at the recent Chinese actions and has conveyed to the Chinese government that such construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for India.”

All this comes at a time when bilateral relations are already strained over India’s refusal to buy into China’s grand Belt and Road initiative, and Beijing’s constant veto of India’s efforts to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group and get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar declared a terrorist at the UN. New Delhi allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh earlier this year despite howls of Chinese protests hasn’t been forgotten. It also comes at a time when India has clearly aligned with the United States over issues like maritime navigation rights in the South China Sea and the need to adhere to international treaties.

The fact that this incident blew up just around the time that Modi was exchanging bear hugs and extended handshakes with US President Donald Trump is perhaps no coincidence. “China is trying to tell us in no uncertain terms that America will not and cannot help us if they start needling us here on the border,” says Lieutenant General (retd) J S Bajwa, the editor of Indian Defence Review and the author of a seminal book on the People’s Liberation Army. “But we should not let them push us around.”

 That is apparently the message Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, who reached Gangtok in Sikkim on Thursday as part of a visit to a number of other formation headquarters in the Northeast, conveyed to top commanders posted in the region.

“The recent spate of PLA incursions into India and Bhutan are hardly isolated incidents,” Maura Moynihan wrote in the Epoch Times in 2013. In 1962, she noted, Mao Zedong prophesied that China would one day conquer Tibet’s ‘Five Fingers’: the Indian territories of Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunchal, and the nations of Bhutan and Nepal... “Take Beijing’s word for it: They are ready,” she declared.

 Most Indian analysts, however, dismiss the possibility of events escalating into an armed conflict, saying neither side can afford it. But some also say that China is somewhat taken aback by India’s decision to come to Bhutan’s aid, and that given Beijing’s ‘unforgiving’ and unpredictable nature, India better be ready too.

One War, Several Battles in the High Himalayas

The beginning: January 1950

 India establishes diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, becoming the second non-communist nation to do so. In October, China occupies Tibet. Border clashes with India erupt in 1954 after New Delhi discovers that China had built a road through Aksai Chin, which India claims.

March 1959

 The Dalai Lama, spiritual and temporal head of Tibetans, reaches India. Accusing India of interference, China claims huge swathes of India.

October 1962

 China launches a two-pronged attack on India, from Ladakh and Arunachal, then part of India’s Northeast Frontier Agency. War ends on November 21, 1962 with China declaring a unilateral ceasefire and withdrawing behind the original lines. India withdraws posts from Aksai Chin, giving China control of the region.

September 1967

 Indian and Chinese troops trade fire at Nathu La in Sikkim (then an Indian protectorate), after India repulsed Chinese intruders trying to stake claim to the region. Days later, another exchange of firing occurs in Cho La, north of Nathu La. Estimates of fatalities range from 150-600 in the two incidents.

July 1976

 Ties are re-established for the first time since the 1962 war. In 1986, China intrudes into Arunachal and constructs a helipad. Early 1987, large-scale troop movements are reported on both sides with Western diplomats even predicting war. By the summer of 1987, after India’s strong stand, both sides back away from conflict. And in 1988, Rajiv Gandhi becomes the first Indian PM to visit China after Nehru’s 1954 Hindi Chini Bhai-Bhai romance.

April 2013

 China intrudes into Daulat Beg Oldi, Ladakh, the Depsang plains of Aksai Chin and Arunachal. The Depsang incursion is 19-km deep. China backs off after 21 days. In July 2016, China intrudes into Uttarakhand, part of the ‘middle sector’ which it didn’t enter even during the 1962 war. China has also repeatedly violated Indian airspace in this sector in 2017.

June 2017

 Sino-Indian ties take another hit after India stops Chinese attempts to build a road near the

 Sikkim-Bhutan border.

‘On the Border, PLA Plays Kho-Kho’

 The infamous transgression in Depsang ‘subtly’ choreographed to coincide with the visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to India in 2013 is truly the strangest act of ‘military diplomacy’ in recent history! Later again in Chumar, Chinese troops, for the first time, adopted the ‘jostling’ tactic. This involved pushing forward by leaning with their dead weight on anyone stopping them, and quickly sitting down on the ground if they felt they were yielding ground. And when they saw a chance they leapt forward and sat down further inside – call it ‘kho-kho’ tactics! ... A traditional Indian rural sport now adopted and adapted by the PLA. The troops of both sides were sans any personal weapons. The same tactic has been applied in Doklam. India treads a heavily mined path to stake its rightful place in the comity of nations; it will be subjected to such barbs and jostling. The place at the summit is always limited. I sincerely hope that petty politicking does not let India down.

‘India Must Handle Situation Firmly’

 The last face-off was nearly five decades ago in the same area, and the army records indicate that there were heavy casualties on the Chinese side. The independent policies pursued by Modi to engage the US, Japan and other western powers is being seen by China as actions aimed at challenging China’s aspirations to be a global power replacing the US. Modi’s government has concentrated on strengthening the much-neglected infrastructure and military capability in the North East much to the consternation of the Chinese leadership. China is also peeved that India has not endorsed its OBOR initiative. It has no qualms in investing heavily in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a disputed area, while advocating maintenances of status quo on South China Sea where there are multiple disputes. It is obvious that the recent provocation along the Sikkim border is not a sudden development but a response to some of the recent initiatives by Modi which can alter the strategic balance ... it is clear that India has to handle the situation firmly and stand up to the designs of the aggressive neighbour who does not hesitate to buttress its claims by use of force. </s> BEIJING, July 3 (Reuters) - China said on Monday that India was violating an 1890 border agreement between Britain and China that previous Indian governments have pledged to uphold, and it should be respected to end a "very serious" incursion by India.

The border stand-off on a plateau next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim, which borders China, has ratcheted up tension between the neighbouring giants, who share a 3,500 km (2,175 miles) frontier, large parts of which are disputed.

According to the Chinese interpretation of events, Indian guards crossed into China's Donglang region early in June and obstructed work on a road on the plateau.

Troops from the two sides then confronted each other close to a strategic valley controlled by China that separates India from Bhutan - a close Indian ally - and gives China access to the so-called Chicken's Neck, a thin strip of land that connects India to its remote northeastern regions.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing that the Sikkim part of the border had been settled in the 1890 agreement, and previous Indian governments had many times affirmed that in writing.

"Pacts must be respected - this is a basic principle of international law," Geng said.

Indian troops crossing onto the Chinese side were a violation of this historical agreement and the United Nations charter, he added.

"The nature of this is very serious," Geng said, reiterating a demand for India to withdraw its troops to its side.

India's Ministry of External Affairs referred to a statement it made on Friday, when it warned China that construction of the road near their common border would have serious security implications.

Analysts in New Delhi said that India had intervened on behalf of Bhutan. As the tiny Himalayan Kingdom was not party to the 1890 agreement between Britain and China, the dispute was between China and Bhutan over where their common border lies.

Bhutan said last week that the road was being built inside its territory.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are attending a summit of the G20 group of nations in the German city of Hamburg later this week.

Geng would not be drawn on whether the two could meet there, saying bilateral meetings for Xi at the summit were being arranged. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes in NEW DELHI; Editing by Robert Birsel) </s> BEIJING: China said on Monday that India was violating an 1890 border agreement between Britain and China that previous Indian governments have pledged to uphold, and it should be respected to end a "very serious" incursion by India.

The border stand-off on a plateau next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim, which borders China, has ratcheted up tension between the neighbouring giants, who share a 3,500 km (2,175 miles) frontier, large parts of which are disputed.

According to the Chinese interpretation of events, Indian guards crossed into China's Donglang region early in June and obstructed work on a road on the plateau.

Troops from the two sides then confronted each other close to a strategic valley controlled by China that separates India from Bhutan - a close Indian ally - and gives China access to the so-called Chicken's Neck, a thin strip of land that connects India to its remote northeastern regions.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing that the Sikkim part of the border had been settled in the 1890 agreement, and previous Indian governments had many times affirmed that in writing.

"Pacts must be respected - this is a basic principle of international law," Geng said.

Indian troops crossing onto the Chinese side were a violation of this historical agreement and the United Nations charter, he added.

"The nature of this is very serious," Geng said, reiterating a demand for India to withdraw its troops to its side.

India's Ministry of External Affairs referred to a statement it made on Friday, when it warned China that construction of the road near their common border would have serious security implications.

Analysts in New Delhi said that India had intervened on behalf of Bhutan. As the tiny Himalayan Kingdom was not party to the 1890 agreement between Britain and China, the dispute was between China and Bhutan over where their common border lies.

Bhutan said last week that the road was being built inside its territory.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are attending a summit of the G20 group of nations in the German city of Hamburg later this week.

Geng would not be drawn on whether the two could meet there, saying bilateral meetings for Xi at the summit were being arranged. </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.”
Amid growing tensions between China and India and Bhutan, China releases a map detailing pieces of land claimed by Bhutan and India as belonging to China. China claims, via the map, that territory up until Gipmochi belongs to China and claims it's supported by the 1890 Convention of Calcutta.