US Commander refuses to take side with India against China in border standoff
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The standoff between India and China in Doklam of the Sikkim section is a matter of concern, a top American commander has said and asked the two sides to work together and resolve the issue diplomatically.
India and China have been locked in a face-off in the Doklam area for more than 50 days after Indian troops stopped the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from building a road in the area. Admiral Harry B Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, echoed the State Department’s view that the US encourages the two countries to resolve their differences diplomatically.
“Well, I think that any time you have two great powers atodds across a common border, that’s an area of concern. Ofcourse, it’s potentially dangerous,” he told PTI when asked about the Doklam standoff. “But I think that I would echo those sentiments of our own government leaders, America’s national leadership, that we encourage both India and China to engage in diplomacy, to help reduce these tensions,” he said.When asked if in Doklam China is repeating the pattern it has been following in the South China Sea to change the status quo, Harris said it is for India to make a determination in this regard.
“I think that’s a determination that India is going to have to make itself. I don’t want to speak for India, and I certainly don’t want to speculate on what might happen. I think this is a dispute, as it stands now, and that India and China must work out together. Hopefully peacefully,” Admiral Harris said.
Harris also said China’s actions in the South and East China seas are “coercive” to its neighbours. “I believe that their (Chinese) actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea are aggressive…And they are coercive to their neighbours,” he said.
