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Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>Amid the standoff at Doklam plateau in Sikkim sector between Indian and Chinese troops, India on Friday told Bhutan to not get intimidated by Beijing’s angry rhetoric, even as Bhutan urged New Delhi to amicably resolve the border stand-off with China. The sources at a meeting of BIMSTEC nations told The Indian Express that these were the broad contours of the discussion between Indian and Bhutanese leaders and officials. Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal are members of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also met her Bhutanese counterpart Damcho Dorji. This was the minister-level meeting between Bhutan and India ever since the genesis of the Doklam border stand-off in June. The sources also added that both India and Bhutan discussed the Doklam issue and exchanged notes on the “way forward”. Dorji said after the meeting: “We hope the situation in Doklam will be resolved peacefully and amicably.” He stayed away from giving specific details. Also Read: Don’t be intimidated by China: India to Bhutan

India behaving like mature power in Doklam standoff, says US expert

A top American defence expert has opined that India is “behaving like a mature power” in the Doklam standoff and making China look like an adolescent throwing a tamper tantrum. Professor of strategy at US Naval War College James R Holmes said: “New Delhi has done things right thus far, neither backing away from the dispute nor replying in kind to Beijing’s over-the-top rhetoric. It is behaving as the mature power and making China look like the adolescent throwing a temper tantrum.”

Army raises alert level in Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese officials meet US counterparts

As China continues to engage in belligerent rhetoric over the Doklam standoff, the Indian Army has cautiously put its units in Arunachal Pradesh on a higher alert, putting some troops in the state ahead of their usual locations but still short of the Chinese border.

Sources revealed to the The Indian Express that, as a precautionary measure, many units of the Dimpaur-headquartered 3 Corps and Tezpur-headquartered 4 Corps have been placed on “higher alert in a No War No Peace mode”.

The sources also emphasised that these measures are not related to to any major build-up of China’s military in Tibet. The Indian side has not observed any major movement of China’s military so far. The Indian Express had reported earlier that in the eastern sector, Army units in Sikkim have already been staged forward as they undertake their Operational Alert this month which has been advanced from October. Also Read: Cautiously, Army raises alert level in Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese officials meet US counterparts

China, India must work to resolve Doklam standoff, says US commander

A top American commander said today that the ongoing Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese troops is a matter of concern, even as he asked both countries to work together and resolve the issue diplomatically. India and China have been locked in a face-off in the Doklam area for more than 50 days after Indian troops stopped the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from building a road in the area.

Commander of the US Pacific Command Admiral Harry B Harris echoed the State Department’s view that the US encourages the two countries to resolve their differences diplomatically. In a statement to PTI, Admiral Harris said “Well, I think that any time you have two great powers at odds across a common border, that’s an area of concern. Of course, it’s potentially dangerous.”

“But I think that I would echo those sentiments of our own government leaders, America’s national leadership, that we encourage both India and China to engage in diplomacy, to help reduce these tensions,” Admiral Harris added.

Chinese Navy eyes Indian Ocean as part of PLA’s plan to extend its reach amid Doklam standoff

Amid the ongoing Doklam standoff, Chinese Navy has reached out to India to maintain security China in Indian Ocean amid increasing concerns in New Delhi over the growing presence of the PLA fleet in India’s backyard. In a first, People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) threw open its strategic South Sea Fleet (SSF) base in the coastal city of Zhanjiang to a group of Indian journalists. “It is my opinion China and India can make joint contributions to the safety and security of the Indian Ocean,” Capt Liang Tianjun, Deputy Chief of General Office of China’s SSF said. His remarks came as China’s Navy embarked on a massive expansion to extend its global reach. Also Read: Chinese Navy eyes Indian Ocean as part of PLA’s plan to extend its reach

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a stand-off in the Doklam area of the Sikkim sector for seven weeks now after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the disputed area. China claimed that they were constructing the road within their territory and has been demanding immediate pull-out of the Indian troops from the disputed Doklam plateau. New Delhi has expressed concern over the road building, apprehending that it may allow Chinese troops to cut India’s access to its northeastern states.

India has conveyed to the Chinese government that the road construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for it. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doklam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.

Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim. China also claims that Thimphu has no dispute with Beijing over Doklam.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App</s>New Delhi: The flag meeting between Indian and Chinese Army officers on Friday over the ongoing Doklam standoff remained inconclusive.

The Army officers from both the sides extensively discussed the Doklam standoff meeting at Nathu La mountain pass in Sikkim.

Usually, flag meetings are held between Brigadier level officers, but Friday's meet was attended by Major General rank officers from both sides.

“In the Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) attended by Major General rank officers from both sides, India insisted that the face-off could be resolved through simultaneous withdrawal of troops by the Indian and Chinese sides,” sources said.

The two sides hold BPM in five points which include Daulat Beg Oldie in northern Ladakh, Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh, Chusul in Ladakh, Bum-La near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and Nathu-La in Sikkim.

The standoff close to the tri-junction of India-China-Bhutan started on June 16, after a construction party from China`s People`s Liberation Army entered the Doklam area and attempted to construct the road.

Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doklam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.

India has said Beijing's action to "unilaterally determine tri-junction points" violated a 2012 India-China pact which says the boundary would be decided by consulting all the concerned parties.

The two countries share a little over 200 km of border in the Sikkim sector.

Amid the border stand-off with China, Defence Minister Arun Jaitely on Friday rejected reports about shortage of ammunition and asserted that the armed forces have enough quantity to face any eventuality.</s>After China said that there was no room for compromise when it came to the Doklam standoff and reports stating that Beijing is gearing up for a "small-scale military operation" to oust Indian soldiers from the border in Doklam made news, it is now being said that India has ordered the evacuation of villages in the border region.

China's People's Daily, on Thursday, said that the Indian Army was evacuating the residents from the Nathang village in East Sikkim, which is just 35 km from Doklam. "Indian troops on Thu orders evacuation of Nathang village, near site of two-month standoff between #Chinese and #Indian armies," the newspaper tweeted.

Later, the same was also reported by the Indian media, which said that the residents had been asked to vacate their houses immediately. It isn't known if the village was being vacated to make room for the thousands of 33 Corp troops or if this was a way to avoid civilian casualties in case of a military operation, reported News 18.

However, the Indian Army has denied these reports and said that the Nathang village hasn't been evacuated and the army has no such plans for now. "No village has been evacuated. Neither does the Army propose to get any evacuated," the Times of India quoted a source as saying.

It was reported in July that the Chinese Army has moved tonnes of military hardware towards the Line of Actual Control. Even though India denied that the People's Liberation Army had carried out such activities at the border, it was questioned why India is yet to shift the artillery guns to the region even though the Doklam standoff seems unlikely to end anytime soon.

The source noted that the Indian Army is prepared for any emergency and "continues to maintain high operational readiness."

"Our troops are entrenched in the Sikkim trijunction area. It makes more sense for the PLA to create mischief in some other sector," the source added. "With China being belligerent, Indian Army has taken counter-measures as precautions."

On August 5, the Global Times had said that China will not let the Doklam standoff go on for too long and could take up a "small military operation" within two weeks.

"There is no way China will tolerate the Indian troops' incursion into Chinese territory for too long. If India refuses to withdraw, China may conduct a small-scale military operation within two weeks," Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, had told the daily.

Getting more and more aggressive each day, People's Liberation Analysts had also said that Beijing will not "compromise" when it comes to ending the standoff and that India has "misjudged" China's resolve by deploying troops in the region.

Speaking to the media, China once again said that India should not have concerns with what activities the country carries out within its territories and noted that the Chinese citizens, as well as the army, are "angry" over India's "dangerous" move.

"China so far has not used the word 'invasion'. We have only used words like 'trespass' or 'incursion' and that is the goodwill of China," the Press Trust of India quoted Senior Colonel Zhou Bo as saying.

China once again brought up the Kashmir issue and said India would not react positively if Beijing would enter Kashmir on behalf of Pakistan, which would be similar to India entering Doklam on behalf of Bhutan. "Pakistan is a friend of China. If China crosses the Indian border or the India-China border on behalf of Pakistan I don't know how you will react to that," Senior Colonel Zhao Xiaozhou, director at the Centre on China-America Defense Relations of the Academy of Military Science said.</s>In a strategically key move, India has poured in more troops along the entire stretch of its border with China in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the face of heightened rhetoric by Beijing over the Doklam standoff, senior government officials said on Friday.

The “caution level” among the troops has also been raised, the officials told PTI.

The decision to increase the deployment along the nearly 1,400-km Sino-India border from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh was taken after carrying out a detailed analysis of the situation and considering China’s aggressive posturing against India on Doklam, the officials said.

“The troop level along the border with China in the Sikkim and Arunachal sectors has been increased,” said the officials on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The Army’s Sukna-based 33 Corps as well as 3 and 4 corps based in Arunachal and Assam are tasked to protect the sensitive Sino-India border in the eastern theatre.

The officials declined to give any figure or percentage of increased deployment, saying they cannot disclose “operational details.”

According to defence experts, roughly 45,000 troops including personnel having completed the weather acclimatisation process are normally kept ready along the border at any given time, but not all are necessarily deployed.

The soldiers, deployed over 9,000 feet, have to go through a 14-day-long acclimatisation process.

The officials, however, said there is no enhancement of troops at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction in Doklam where around 350 army personnel are holding on to their position for nearly eight weeks after stopping Chinese troops from constructing a road on June 16.

Bhutan and China have competing claims over Doklam, and are negotiating a resolution.

China has been ramping up rhetoric against India over the last few weeks, demanding immediate withdrawal of Indian troops from Dokalam. The Chinese state media, particularly, has carried a barrage of critical articles on the Dokalam stand-off slamming India.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj recently said both sides should first pull back their troops for any talks to take place, and favoured a peaceful resolution of the border standoff.

India also conveyed to the Chinese government that the road construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for it.</s>The standoff between India and China in Doklam of the Sikkim section is a matter of concern, a top American commander has said and asked the two sides to work together and resolve the issue diplomatically. India and China have been locked in a face-off in the Doklam area for more than 50 days after Indian troops stopped the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from building a road in the area. Admiral Harry B Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, echoed the State Department’s view that the US encourages the two countries to resolve their differences diplomatically.

“Well, I think that any time you have two great powers atodds across a common border, that’s an area of concern. Ofcourse, it’s potentially dangerous,” he told PTI when asked about the Doklam standoff. “But I think that I would echo those sentiments of our own government leaders, America’s national leadership, that we encourage both India and China to engage in diplomacy, to help reduce these tensions,” he said.

When asked if in Doklam China is repeating the pattern it has been following in the South China Sea to change the status quo, Harris said it is for India to make a determination in this regard. “I think that’s a determination that India is going to have to make itself. I don’t want to speak for India, and I certainly don’t want to speculate on what might happen. I think this is a dispute, as it stands now, and that India and China must work out together. Hopefully peacefully,” Admiral Harris said. Harris also said China’s actions in the South and East China seas are “coercive” to its neighbours. “I believe that their (Chinese) actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea are aggressive…And they are coercive to their neighbours,” he said.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App</s>India and China continue to militarily reinforce their positions with the almost two-month long troop standoff in Doklam. Diplomatic channels, however, are also being used in a bid to diffuse the tense faceoff in the Bhutanese territory of Doklam. According to sources "some build-up" in terms of additional troops and tanks as well as artillery and air defence units in the Tibet Military District by the People's Liberation Army (PLA).</s>Government sources on Sunday denied reports of China building a bridge in Ladakh. Earlier a report said on Sunday China was building a bridge in the no man’s land in Ladakh. “The report that China is building a bridge in Ladakh is wrong,” a government source said. The source also denied any fresh aggression from China. Amid a stand-off in Doklam, close to the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction, India has reinforced troops along the eastern border. At Doklam, the point of the stand-off, there are around 350 troops on the Indian side and around the same number of soldiers on the other side of the border. There have been no increase in troops or any movement on the Chinese side that may indicate a possible conflict. The soldiers have been asked to be on high alert, and artillery guns have been moved to different points. Army officials in New Delhi have refused to comment on the situation.

The standoff close to the tri-junction of India-China-Bhutan started on June 16, after a construction party from China’s People’s Liberation Army entered the Doklam area and attempted to construct a road. A Royal Bhutan Army patrol attempted to dissuade them and the ambassador of Bhutan publicly stated that it lodged a protest with the Chinese government through their embassy in New Delhi on June 20.</s>With China intensifying its bellicose tone amid the ongoing Doklam standoff, India has deployed more troops along the entire stretch of its border with China in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors, senior government officials said. According to PTI, the officials said that the “caution level” among the troops has also been raised. “The troop level along the border with China in the Sikkim and Arunachal sectors has been increased,” said the officials on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The move to increase the deployment along the nearly 1,400-km Sino-India border from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh was taken after conducting a detailed analysis of the situation, the officials said.

The Sukna-based 33 Corps as well as 3 and 4 corps based in Arunachal and Assam have been entrusted the task to protect the sensitive Sino-India border in the eastern theatre. However, the officials declined to give any figures or percentage of increased deployment citing their inability to disclose “operational details.”

The officials also ruled out enhancing troops at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction in Doklam where around 350 army personnel are holding on to their position since June 16 when they stopped Chinese troops from constructing a road near the disputed region.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App</s>The Indian Army has increased its troops along the eastern border with China in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh amid the ongoing Doklam standoff, Reuters reported on Saturday. The military alert has been raised as “a matter of caution”, the news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying.

In Arunachal Pradesh, several units of the 3 Corps headquartered in Dimapur and 4 Corps in Tezpur have been placed under the “No War No Peace” mode, The Indian Express reported. The Army has also reportedly ordered that no convoys of military trucks be allowed to pass through the area to avoid sending out a wrong signal to China.

However, some reports claimed that the troop level was enhanced as part of the annual exercise in high altitude area. The training was rescheduled from September to now to let the soldiers complete the weather acclimatisation process, according to ANI.On Friday, a flag meeting between major-general rank officers from the Indian and the Chinese Army was held at the Nathu La border in Sikkim, The Times of India reported. But it failed to reach a resolution, as China demanded that India withdraw its troops from Doklam.

India and China are currently locked in a diplomatic standoff. Both nations have maintained that troops from the other country had transgressed into their territory in the Sikkim sector’s Doklam area.

Bilateral ties have been strained since the Indian Army stopped China from constructing a road in the region. New Delhi has made it clear that it will not allow China to construct a motorable road up to the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction through the Doklam plateau.
India increases its military alert amid a border standoff with the People's Liberation Army of China at Doklam.