Hope pinned on talks, eyes peeled on border

China insists the plateau - which it calls Donglang, Bhutan refers to as Doklam, and India calls Doko La - is an indisputable part of its territory. Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI: India will continue to rely on diplomacy and its experiences during past border spats with China to try and resolve the stand-off between their troops near the tri-junction with Bhutan, the foreign office said on Thursday amid a refusal by Beijing to accept talks to defuse tensions. The comments followed a day after China's foreign ministry spokesperson dismissed foreign secretary S. Jaishankar's suggestion that the nations could resolve the current crisis the way they had in past instances. China has insisted that India withdraw its troops from the territory disputed by Beijing and Thimphu as a precondition for any dialogue on the spat that has pulled the two Asian giants - and Bhutan sandwiched between them - into their longest border face-off in three decades. India has so far indicated it is unwilling to withdraw its troops unless China also pulls back its soldiers who were constructing a road near the tri-junction that sits at the top of a vulnerable strip connecting the rest of India to its Northeast. It had made its concerns over the security threat posed by the Chinese road public in a June 30 statement which also argued that its troops had entered the region on Bhutan's request, and that New Delhi wanted a dialogue to resolve the spat. India and Bhutan share a 2007 treaty that binds them to protecting each other's security concerns. "We have accumulated a lot of experience, both sides, over the years in addressing a number of matters," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in response to a question from The Telegraph on India's approach following China's refusal to acknowledge Jaishankar's efforts at calming tensions. "I would not like to comment on what others say in this regard. But I can certainly say the approach we had underlined and put out at the end of last month -that continues." The road construction by China was the immediate trigger for the spat that comes amid already-heightened tensions between New Delhi and Beijing over differences ranging from terrorism and India's civil nuclear ambitions to an economic corridor China is building through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. China insists the plateau - which it calls Donglang, Bhutan refers to as Doklam, and India calls Doko La - is an indisputable part of its territory. Bhutan contests that claim, and insists the region is disputed between Thimphu and Beijing. India, which has said it entered on Bhutan's request, is also worried that China may pressure Bhutan to accept the disputed region as Beijing's territory, expanding the border length where India is exposed to Chinese presence. India also has a second worry. If Bhutan accepts the plateau as a part of China, it would push the tri-junction between the three countries south of where New Delhi believes it currently sits. Still, the Indian foreign office has maintained restraint in criticism of China's posture on the stand-off, even while rebuffing other suggestions from Beijing. The Chinese foreign ministry had on Thursday called the Jammu and Kashmir dispute the central cause for instability in the region and had offered its mediation. Baglay rejected the offer, and insisted that cross-border terrorism from Pakistan was the principal source of tension in the region. On the spat with China, he referred to the half-century-long period the two countries had avoided any firing on their disputed border. "The border has been peaceful and that is the result of the efforts of both sides to maintain tranquility," Baglay said. But China has refused to accept the current spat as similar to previous ones. "This is fundamentally different," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang had said on Thursday.