India says to defend China border after standoff ahead of Xi visit

Wednesday, 17 September 2014 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: India said on Tuesday it would firmly defend its 3,500-km-long border with China after domestic media reported a new face-off on the disputed frontier, just days ahead of a visit by President Xi Jinping. More than 200 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army crossed into what India considers its territory in Ladakh in the western Himalayas last week, and used cranes, bulldozers and a Hummer vehicle to build a 2-km road within it, the Hindustan Times said. Indian soldiers challenged the Chinese troops and asked them to withdraw, the newspaper said. Then, on the night of 10 September, soldiers demolished a temporary track built by Chinese forces.

There was no immediate comment by India’s Defence Ministry. Both China and India are trying to put a positive spin on Xi’s first summit meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi since the Indian leader took office in May. He arrives on Wednesday after touring the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The two countries are expected to ramp up commercial ties and open the way for Chinese investment in Indian infrastructure, including railways, but the contested border remains a stumbling block to better political ties. Both lay claim to vast tracts of territory and after two decades of talks are no closer to a resolution of a border dispute over which they went to war in 1962. They have not even been able to agree on the Line of Actual Control where the two armies are deployed, leading to frequent reports of border violations. “Let me assure you that our brave sentinels on the border will address any issue that happens on the border,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Syed Akbaruddin. “We are confident that our borders are in safe hands.” Modi and Xi will discuss the border dispute this week, he added. In Beijing, Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the border issue had not affected the development of two-way ties.