NEW DELHI – India has rejected a proposal by the Chinese Ambassador to NewDelhi Lou Zhaohui for a trilateral summit involving Pakistan, India andChina, reported *Scroll.*link>
The Ministry of External Affairs of the Hindu-majority country said thatthe matters concerning the relationship of Islamabad and New Delhi ‘cannot’involve any third party.
“If Russia, China and Mongolia can have a trilateral summit, then why notIndia, China and Pakistan?” Lou had said at an event in New Delhi onMonday. “We cannot stand another Doklam incident. Let us make a jointeffort to maintain peace along the border.”
The *Press Trust of India *reported that the Chinese government had notapproached the Indians with a formal offer in this regard.
“We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese ambassador in thismatter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinesegovernment,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
“We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the ambassador.Matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in natureand have no scope for involvement of any third country,” he added.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said his party “strongly condemns” theChinese envoy’s statement, *ANI* reported.
“We hope the government of India will also condemn his statement. Our standhas been that the issues between India and Pakistan should be solvedbilaterally,” he said.
*This article originally appeared on Scrolllink>*