Sikkim border row: India will hold talks with China if both nations withdraw troops from Doka La, says Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi: India said Thursday it was ready to hold talks with China with both sides pulling back their forces to end a standoff along a disputed territory high in the Himalayan mountains. Tensions flared in June in the southernmost part of Tibet in an area also claimed by Indian ally Bhutan, after Chinese teams began building a road onto the Doka La plateau. The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan turned to help from New Delhi, which sent troops across the border from the northeastern state of Sikkim. China retaliated by closing a nearby mountain pass that Indian pilgrims use to reach Mount Kailash, a sacred Hindu and Buddhist site in Tibet. [caption id=“attachment_3834207” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Sushma Swaraj. PTI[/caption] India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that a 2012 agreement bound China and India to settle the boundary issue with Bhutan. Her response came as China demanded that Indian forces leave the area to avoid an escalation. India and China fought a bloody war in 1962. Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Swaraj said that Chinese forces recently came with bulldozers and excavators with the intent of building infrastructure that would change the status quo. In the past, the Chinese have built temporary roads in the area. “If China unilaterally changes the status quo of the tri-junction, it becomes a matter of security concern for India,” she said, referring to the area where the three countries meet. Swaraj said China has been demanding that India withdraw its forces from the area. “If China wants to discuss the matter, both sides should withdraw their forces and talk,’” she said. She also said that China was becoming “aggressive” with Bhutan following its protest of the Chinese move. The crisis is expected to be discussed when Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval visits Beijing on 27-28 July to take part in a security forum under the BRICS group of large developing nations that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The nuclear-armed neighbors share a 3,500-kilometer border, much of it contested.