India Should Withdraw With Dignity: Chinese Media Ups Ante
As the standoff in the Dokalam area continued for the third week, it said India should be taught a “bitter lesson”.
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The Chinese official media, on 5 July, stepped up its attack on India with editorials asking Indian troops to move out of Dokalam area in Sikkim sector "with dignity or be kicked out" and describing the situation as "worryingly tense".
While China's nationalistic tabloid Global Times said India should be taught a "bitter lesson", another official newspaper, China Daily, said India should look in the mirror.
The Global Times said in its editorial that India will suffer "greater losses" than in 1962 if it "incites" border clashes with China.
As the standoff in the Dokalam area continued for the third week, it said India should be taught a "bitter lesson".
It also claimed that the Chinese public was infuriated by India's "provocation".
The paper was referring Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat saying that India 'was ready for a two-and-a-half front war'.
Jaitley on 30 June said India of 2017 is different from what it was in 1962, hitting out at China for asking the Indian Army to learn from "historical lessons".
According to the editorial in China Daily, India's defeat in the 1962 war was perhaps too "humiliating" for some in the Indian military and that is why they are talking "belligerently" this time.
Since the standoff on 6 June, when the PLA destroyed bunkers of the Indian Army, claiming the area belonged to China, Chinese media have carried several pieces warning India against escalating border tensions.
The China Daily added that India should respect border agreement and withdraw troops, linking India's move to stop the Chinese military from building a strategic road in Dokalam area in 16 June to its concern over China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which includes the $50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The editorial said the situation in Dokalam remains "worryingly tense, with a stand-off between soldiers of the two countries still ongoing".
Both dailies, however, referred to India's concerns over the road in Dokalam close to the narrow chicken neck area in the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan border as it could cut off a vital link with India's north-eastern region.
(This article has been edited for length)
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