China justifies construction in Doklam

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang says Doklam was Chinese sovereign territory, where Beijing is entitled to build infrastructure at its discretion.

January 19, 2018 02:48 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 08:14 am IST - Beijing

Fortifying a force: At Kupup, the closest point to Doklam. The ITBP is the first line of defence in case of any standoff with China in these areas. SUVOJIT BAGCHI

Fortifying a force: At Kupup, the closest point to Doklam. The ITBP is the first line of defence in case of any standoff with China in these areas. SUVOJIT BAGCHI

China on Friday asserted that it was entitled to build infrastructure in Doklam, but declined to comment specifically on the purported satellite pictures that apparently show fresh construction in the area. “I don’t know who offers such kind of photos. I don’t know the detailed information,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said when asked about the images. Mr. Lu, however, reiterated that Doklam was Chinese sovereign territory, where Beijing was entitled to build infrastructure at its discretion. “China is exercising its sovereignty in its own territory. It’s legitimate and justified. Just as China will not make comments about Indian construction of infrastructure on India’s territory, we hope other countries will not make comment on China’s construction of infrastructure on its territory,” he said. “You must be quite clear. Donglong [Doklam] always belongs to China and is always under China’s effective jurisdiction. There is no dispute in this regard,” he said. Beijing had constructed “infrastructure, including road in the Donglang area,” he asserted but was ambiguous on whether this was fresh construction, following the Doklam crisis, or otherwise. Neither did he say whether there was any infrastructure development specifically at the face-off area, from where troops from both sides disengaged last year after a 73-day face-off. In New Delhi, the Ministry of External said in a statement on Thursday that “the status quo at the face-off site has not been altered”. “Any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate and mischievous.”

Blames Indian troops for Doklam crisis

Mr. Lu blamed Indian troops for last summer’s Doklam crisis on account of their so called “illegal transgress”.  He added: “We hope Indian side learns lesson and avoids the incident to happen again.” Mr. Lu cited the Xiamen BRICS summit in September where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met as the touchstone for the improvement of ties. “Actually, during the Xiamen Summit last year, two leaders reached some consensus on improving and developing bilateral relations and chartering the course for future developments,” ho observed. “We hope relevant parties can earnestly follow through on the consensus reached by two leaders. Moving in the same direction and jointly uphold the peace and stability of the border areas and stay committed to the comprehensive development of bilateral relations,” he said.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.