Hindustan Times BEIJING:29 Dec 2017
The Chinese military on Thursday said India should “strictly control” its troops and implement border agreements to maintain peace and stability along the border, Indian media reported.
The spokesman for Chinese military spokesman Col Ren Guoqiang held up the resolution of the Doklam standoff with India as a key achievement in international cooperation this year.
The defence spokesman said the management of “hotspot issues” such as the Doklam standoff and the situation in South China Sea were among the highlights of China’s international military cooperation in 2017.
With its unified deployment, the military “resolutely” safeguarded China’s sovereignty and security interests, and “played its due role in the handling of the hotspot issues such as the Sino-Indian confrontation in the Donglang (Doklam) area and safeguarded China’s rights and interests in the South China Sea,” he said according to Hindustan Times.
“We hope the Indian side can earnestly implement the relevant agreements reached between the two sides on the border issue and strictly control its border defence troops and do more for the positive development of China-India military-to-military relationship,” he was quoted as saying by Press Trust Of India, according to Hindustan Times.
The standoff at Doklam near the Sikkim border began in mid-June when Indian troops intervened to stop the construction of a road by the People’s Liberation Army in a region controlled by China but claimed by Bhutan.
India acted as the road posed a risk to the narrow corridor connecting the northeastern states with the rest of the country.
The standoff ended on August 28 after both sides agreed to pull back their troops and China halted work on the road.
“We hope Indian side walk towards the same direction as the Chinese side and both sides can push forward the development of the relationship and jointly maintain peace and stability along the China-India border, which is in the interest of both sides,” he said.