China cancels meet that was not there
India says no Modi-Xi meeting was ever sought.
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 on Friday. 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 also participate, however, in 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’ leaders’ 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 said: “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 on Wednesday that Chinese (troops) are entering its territory. This tension can be resolved at the diplomatic level.” 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, Mr Geng said, “We have noted the statement.”