The government has called an all party meet on Friday on the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops along the border, government sources said on Thursday. The meeting, which is likely to be held at Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence, is aimed at briefing the opposition parties about the situation along the border in Sikkim where a stand-off has been continuing since June. The meeting, for which invitation has gone from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, comes ahead of the Monsoon session of parliament set to start from July 17.
Indo-China border stand-off
A stand-off is continuing between Indian and Chinese troops along the border in Sikkim, near India-China-Bhutan tri-junction since June. The trouble started after China attempted to build a road in Bhutan’s territory.
Indian soldiers stopped Chinese troops from constructing a new road that Delhi has described as a major security concern because it gives China access to the Chicken’s Neck – a thin strip of land that connects mainland India to its seven north-eastern states.
China says it has every right to build a road on its own territory. But India agrees with Bhutan’s claim to the region, which the Chinese call Donglang but is called the Doklam plateau by Bhutan.
A spokesperson for the Chinese government said last week that India must pull back its troops ‘to avoid there being an even more serious situation creating even more serious consequences’ Recent weeks have seen strong comments by both countries, with Defence Minister Arun Jaitley stating that China, which has sought to remind India of its defeat in the 1962 war, would do well to remember that India today is ‘not the same as that of 1962.’
