China: Time is not right for Modi-Xi G-20 meet

New Delhi/Beijing: India on Thursday said the military standoff on the border with China could be resolved diplomatically and Chinese soldiers should leave Bhutan’s territory to reduce tensions in the area, while China said that the “atmosphere” was “not right” for a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit that begins in Hamburg, Germany, today.

In response, New Delhi made it clear that no bilateral meeting had been either sought or scheduled with the Chinese President on the G-20 summit’s sidelines. New Delhi said bilateral meetings were planned on the sidelines of the summit between Mr Modi and the leaders of Argentina, Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Vietnam. Mr Modi will, however, attend the meeting of the leaders of Brics, of which China is a part.

While India said “there is no change in the Prime Minister’s schedule”, it remains to be seen if there could be an impromptu meeting between Mr Modi and President Xi sometime during the Brics’ meeting. China, meanwhile, “strongly” urged India to pull back to avoid the situation from getting worse and lead to “some more serious consequences”.

Minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre was quoted by PTI as saying: “I think the issue can be resolved at the diplomatic level. The Chinese troops should stay where they were earlier. China is approaching Bhutanese territory. We want them not to come forward. This is our security concern, and this is our stand. Bhutan’s King gave a statement yesterday that Chinese (troops) are entering its territory. This tension can be resolved at the diplomatic level. Across the table we can solve all the problems.”

As a Chinese foreign ministry official said in Beijing, on condition of anonymity, that the “atmosphere is not right” for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and Mr Modi, the external affairs ministry said in response to a query on the Prime Minister’s schedule in Hamburg: “The (MEA) official spokesperson said that as mentioned earlier, the Prime Minister is visiting Hamburg from 6-8 July for G-20 Summit. His pre-planned bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 

Summit are with Argentina, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, ROK, UK and Vietnam. In addition, he will also participate in the Brics Leaders’ Meeting. There is no change in the Prime Minister’s schedule.”

On June 16, a Chinese PLA construction party entered the Doklam area (of Bhutan) and attempted to build a road. After Bhutan took up the matter with India, the Indian Army intervened on behalf of the Bhutanese and physically obstructed the Chinese PLA from building the road in Doklam and preventing China from changing the status quo. This made the Chinese furious.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang expressed hope in Beijing that “India can immediately withdraw the border troops to the Indian side of the boundary to uphold the peace (and) tranquillity of the China and India border areas”, and said: “I think this is the precondition for any meaningful peace talks between the two sides.”

Asked about Mr Bhamre’s remark that the standoff could be resolved diplomatically and that Chinese soldiers should leave Bhutan’s territory to reduce the tensions in the area, Mr Geng said: “We have noted the statement.” He went on to add: “We have said many times the illegal entry of Indian border troops at the defined section and mutually recognised boundary is different in nature from previous frictions at the undefined part of the boundary.”

Beijing, meanwhile, further stepped up its rhetoric, with the Chinese embassy’s political counsellor Li Ya saying in a video put up on the social media that “since Doklam is part of Chinese territory, activities conducted by China in Doklam are within China’s sovereignty”.