Beijing (Aug. 09): The countdown to a military conflict between India and China has begun and New Delhi should come to senses and withdraw troops from Doklam before it’s too late, a Chinese daily said on Wednesday.
An editorial in the state-run China Daily told India that the “clock is ticking away”. The piece was latest addition to the straight forward commentaries in the Chinese media.
The newspaper said “India will only have itself to blame” if it didn’t withdraw troops from Doklam where its troops are locked in a stand-off with the Chinese Army since mid-June.
“The countdown to a clash between the two forces has begun, and the clock is ticking away the time to what seems to be an inevitable conclusion,” it said.
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“As the standoff … enters its seventh week, the window for a peaceful solution is closing.” China has warned India of serious consequences if Indian troops were not pulled back from Doklam, which Beijing calls Donglang and claims is its territory.
India has proposed to China to simultaneously pull back from Doklam, which India and Bhutan say belongs to Thimpu. Beijing has refused. The newspaper said India had ignored China’s stern warnings. “Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear will have got the message. Yet New Delhi refuses to come to its senses and pull its troops back to its own side of the border.”
Meanwhile, as per the Global Times the Chinese Foreign Ministry told the state-run Chinese media on Wednesday that 53 people and a bulldozer from the Indian side remain in Chinese territory as of Monday.
“India should withdraw its troops and equipment. Regardless of how many Indian troops have trespassed into and stayed in Chinese territory, they have gravely infringed on China’s sovereignty,” the ministry said.
“China has made it clear that there is no room for negotiation and the only solution is the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of Indian troops from the region”, the Global Times reported.