Doklam standoff: China says it will continue patrol, but India has withdrawn troops

Minutes after India said that it has started withdrawing forces from Doklam, China has said that it would continue to stand guard. The Chinese foreign ministry said that the Indian troops have already withdrawn from Doklam, but their troops will continue to patrol the area.

The statement from China is a complete shift from what India's foreign ministry had said a while ago. India had said that in recent weeks, India and China have maintained diplomatic communication in respect with the incident at Doklam. During these communications we were able to express our views and convey our concerns and interests.

On this basis, expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site at Doklam has been agreed upon. The process is ongoing, the MEA also said.

The disengagement of troops comes at a crucial time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit China for the BRICS summit. The stage for the back channel talks was however set during the visit by National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval. He was in China recently for the NSA BRICS summit. Although no official statement was made during that summit, there were back channel talks that had been opened up to de-escalate tensions at Doklam.

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