Dokalam face off: China likely to issue advisory to its citizens in India

Yesterday, a leading official newspaper in Beijing warned Chinese companies operating in India to be be alert and take steps to avoid being hit by anti-China sentiment.

China has said that it would decide on whether or not to issue a travel advisory to its citizens in India amidst the stand off at Dokalam. "The Chinese government attaches great importance to safety and lawful rights and interests of overseas Chinese citizens in accordance with the security condition of the relevant countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters here. "We will decide whether or not to issue a travel alert," Geng said as he was responding to a question about write-ups in Chinese media cautioning Chinese investors in India.

China also said that it has a "basic consensus" with Bhutan on the boundary and there is no dispute between two countries in the Doklam area.

The standoff between troops of India and China at Doklam area started after Bhutan, which has close diplomatic and military ties with India, protested to Beijing about the People's Liberation Army troops building a road in the strategic location close to chicken neck tri-junction. "I can say that we have been stressing that Doklam belongs to China since ancient times. It was under the effective jurisdiction of China without any dispute.

China and Bhutan had about 24 rounds of boundary talks," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing answering a question about Bhutan s protest.

"Although the boundary between the two countries is yet to be settled but we have basic consensus on the boundary and there is no dispute between both of us that Doklam belongs to China," he said. Geng said China had been acting according to the agreements between the two countries and Doklam had been under the effective jurisdiction of China.

"Chinese activities (road building) in the relevant area does not violate relevant agreements and does not alter the status quo. The Bhutan side also knows it clearly. We will work together with Bhutan through friendly negotiations and jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas," he said.

China said today that it was weighing its options on issuing a travel alert for citizens visiting India depending on the security situation following the border standoff in the Sikkim section.

Yesterday, a leading official newspaper in Beijing warned Chinese companies operating in India to be be alert and take steps to avoid being hit by anti-China sentiment. An article in the Global Times called on Chinese firms to reduce their investments in India in view of the tension. Since the standoff on June 6, when the People's Liberation Army destroyed bunkers of the India Army claiming the area belonged to China, Chinese media have carried several pieces blaming India for escalating border tension and "reminding" the Indian Army about the 1962 war. Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.

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