India-China standoff: Situation at border stable, no need for third party intervention, says Beijing

China on Wednesday emphasised that there was no need for the intervention of a “third party” to resolve its current standoff with India as the two neighbours have full-fledged border-related mechanisms and communication channels to sort out their differences through dialogue.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told the that China’s position on the border issue with India was “consistent and clear” and both the countries have “earnestly” implemented the important consensus reached between their leaders.

Zhao was replying to a question about the phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump during which the two leaders also discussed the border standoff between India and China.

“Now the situation there (at India-China border) is overall stable and controllable. China and India have full-fledged border-related mechanisms and communication channel. We have the capability to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation,” Zhao said

“There is no need for the intervention of a third party,” he emphasised, in what is China’s first official reaction to the discussion on the border tensions between Modi and Trump.

President Trump last week said he was “ready, willing and able to mediate” between the two countries. “We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute,” Trump said in a tweet.

Both India and China have rejected Trump’s offer of mediation.

“China’s position on the border issue is consistent and clear,” Zhao said and reiterated that the two neighbours have “earnestly implemented the important consensus” reached between their leaders.

The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day standoff in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff.

In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue “strategic guidance” to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding.

Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties.

“We have strictly abided by the relevant treaty between China and India and committed to upholding national territorial and sovereignty and security as well as upholding peace and stability in the border region,” Zhao said.

His remarks came in the backdrop of the continuing standoff between the militaries of India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a bitter standoff in several areas along the Line of Actual Control in mountainous eastern Ladakh for close to four weeks. Both the countries are holding talks at military and diplomatic levels to resolve the dispute.

On May 5, the Indian and the Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries.

In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9.

ALSO READ | What China wants in Ladakh, Kashmir is to perpetuate illegality
ALSO READ | India’s reciprocal measures caught China by surprise: Satellite imagery expert

WATCH | China wants to change the status quo: Dr Ashley Tellis on Ladakh standoff