India has denied China’s claim that the number of Indian soldiers at the actual confrontation site had gone down from 400 to just over 40 by July-end. The Chinese foreign ministry, through a 15-page statement with maps, photographs and documents, seemed to give the impression that the Doklam crisis in Bhutanese territory, near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction, had finally begun to de-escalate with India backing down from the confrontation after 45 days.
India is not ready to pull back its army from Doklam. Around 300-350 Indian troops, with two bulldozers, continue to maintain their “nonaggressive“ vigil at the actual face-off site in the Doklam area, which is located at an altitude of over 11,000 feet.“There has been no troop reduction by India on the ground.
It said the “illegal action“ by “trespassing“ Indian soldiers “not only violated China’s territorial sovereignty but challenged Bhutan’s sovereignty and independence“. But brushing all this aside, Indian sources stressed China had unilaterally broken the status quo by trying to construct a motorable road in the Doklam area, which was physically blocked by Indian troops on June 18.They said this violated the 2012 pact between their two special representatives that the tri-junction boundary points. Through this statement, China was trying to sell to the international community that India was the real aggressor in the Doklam dispute.
The Chinese ministry said, “The fact of the matter is that it is India which has attempted time and again to change the status quo of the China-India boundary in the Sikkim sector, which poses a grave security threat to China.“ The action by Indian troops to block the road construction in an area where there is “a clear and delimited boundary“ is “fundamentally different from past frictions,“ said the statement.
This statement came after National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval held a bilateral meeting with Chinese officials.