India warned to withdraw trespassing troops

India should not take any chances and should abandon illusions it may harbor about the Chinese military's ability and determination to defend its territory, the Defense Ministry said in the latest response to Indian troops trespassing in Doklam in Chinese territory.

The 90-year history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army demonstrates the Army's growing ability and its adamant determination to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a news conference on July 24 in Beijing.

"It is easier to shake the mountains than to shake the PLA," he said.

He asked India to immediately withdraw its troops to the Indian side of the border, saying it is a precondition and basis for resolving the incident.

"We strongly urge India to take effective measures to correct its wrongdoing, stop provocation and work with China to jointly safeguard peace in the border regions," he said.

China, which will defend its territory, sovereignty and security interests "at all costs", has implemented emergency response measures in the region and will further enhance targeted deployment and training, Wu said.

In another development, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval was due in Beijing to attend the seventh meeting of high-ranking security representatives of the BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - held on July 27 and 28.

In a signed article published in the South China Morning Post, Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington, said the alignment of the China-India boundary in the Sikkim section is defined by Article 1 of the Convention Between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet in 1890.

"On numerous occasions, Indian representatives from prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru down have formally accepted this," Gupta said of India's first prime minister. Gupta said that this time, India has violated China's territorial sovereignty and "must vacate its trespass unconditionally" as a precondition for dialogue.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it is easy to solve the standoff along the China-India border - Indian troops should withdraw from Doklam.

In a Foreign Ministry statement, Wang told reporters in Bangkok on July 24 that it is very clear who is right and who is wrong in the standoff in Doklam, and that even senior Indian officials have publicly said that Chinese troops have not intruded into Indian territory.

"In other words, India admitted that it has entered Chinese territory. The solution to this issue is simple, which is that they behave themselves and withdraw," Wang said.

Wang is by far the most senior Chinese official to have commented on the Indian troops' incursion.

Indian troops illegally crossed into the Sikkim section of the border between the two countries to Doklam in June in an attempt to stop China's road construction there, which drew protests from China.

Lan Jianxue, a researcher in South Asian studies at the China Institute of International Studies, says the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry sent warnings to India in their July 24 news conferences.

Lan says China cannot make compromises on its own territory, and India's wrongdoing will only "exhaust" China's strategic patience.

He says India must realize it has done wrong by crossing a defined boundary and withdraw its troops in order to ease the situation.

Contact the writers through wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 07/28/2017 page15)