Post-Doklam, India-China standoff in Arunachal Pradesh, say reports

According to reports, months after Doklam, India and China are locked in a standoff in Arunachal Pradesh.

New Delhi, Jan 3: Last year, neighbouring countries India and China were involved in a standoff near the tri-border junction at Doklam in the Sikkim region beginning from June 16 to August 28.

Now, reports say a similar situation is brewing between the two hostile nations near Bishing in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district for more than a week.

According to Hindustan Times, Chinese soldiers with road-building machines crossed up to 200 metres into the Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh in late December, almost reaching a border village in the Upper Siang district before Indian troops stopped them.

The latest incursion on the part of Chinese troops took place around the time India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China's state councillor Yang Jiechi held border talks in New Delhi last month.

"My friend was driving to a place which lies beyond Tuting. He was stopped by the Army, who said he cannot go further because a standoff between Indian and Chinese soldiers is on. The locals there too had confirmed this to my friend," an Arunachal-based lawyer-activist was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.

A source in the security establishment told The New Indian Express the standoff began before the New Year and "is continuing as we speak".

"We do not want to escalate matters and make a Doklam out of it," The New Indian Express quoted another person as saying. "So the government has asked us not to go public."

However, Deputy Commissioner of Upper Siang Duli Kamduk told the Hindustan Times, "Our officials in Tuting subdivision have not reported any Chinese incursion. There is no word from the armed forces too." The Army spokesperson did not comment on the incident.

For 73 days, from June 16 to August 28, the two neighbouring countries were at loggerheads with each other in the Doklam region of Bhutan. Fortunately, sanity prevailed and India and China decided to end the military row with the help of diplomacy to avoid a full-blown war that could have proved detrimental to the whole world.

Post-Doklam stand-off, we saw "friendly" meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping at the ninth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit in the Chinese port city of Xiamen last year.

OneIndia News