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 hostile 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 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.”
Withdraw 53 Soldiers From Chinese Territory’: Global Times
This came on the same day that Global Times asked India to withdraw its troops and equipment from what it called the “Chinese territory”. Fifty-three Indian soldiers and a bulldozer were present at the Doklam area, a report in a state-run daily said on Wednesday, quoting the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Citing the ministry, the daily said that 53 soldiers and a bulldozer from the Indian side remain in “Chinese territory” as of Monday.
The ministry was quoted as having said by the daily:
India should withdraw its troops and equipment... They have gravely infringed on China’s sovereignty.
On the same day, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, asserted that the armed forces are strong enough to meet any challenge to the country's security and underlined that lessons have been learnt from the 1962 war with China. “I agree that some challenges are still there. Some people are targeting our country's sovereignty and integrity. But I am fully confident that our brave soldiers have capability to keep our country secure, may it be challenges on the eastern border or the western border,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)
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