Border standoff 'effectively controlled and managed': China

Beijing: China on Thursday tried to play down the continuing border standoff at Chumar coinciding with the visit of President Xi Jinping to India, saying the incident has been “effectively controlled and managed”. [caption id=“attachment_1718589” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Chinese President Xi Jinping.[/caption] “China and India attach great importance to the incident you mentioned. With immediate and effective communication, this has been effectively controlled and managed,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters here replying to a question on the standoff and whether China rushed more troops. “The border issue is a left over issue. China and India though mechanism and consultations have maintained peace and tranquillity in the border areas for many years,” he said. “China hopes to continue to work with the Indian side to safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas and solve the border issue thorough consultation and dialogue,” he said. Earlier, it was reported that the Chinese side pushed in more troops into Chumar village along the Line of Actual Control before the break of dawn today with more banners asking the Indian Army to leave the area. Both the armies were maintaining a distance of 200 metres from each other. The entire issue started on Sunday when Indian troops detected a construction activity being undertaken by the Chinese side well within the Indian territory in Chumar area. The army stopped the activity and increased its strength. The two sides have held two flag meetings so far which included a marathon discussion yesterday that continued for several hours and remained inconclusive. On Xi’s visit to India, Hong said the Chinese President was warmly welcomed at Ahemdabad, the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and had in depth discussions with him. “We hope for full success of this visit so that the strategic partnership between China and India can be brought to a new level,” he said. PTI