WASHINGTON – A US Congresswoman has claimed that China has “quietlyresumed” its activities in the Doklam area and neither Bhutan nor India hassought to dissuade it, an assertion that was denied by New Delhi today.

Congresswoman Ann Wagner made the claim during a Congressional hearing ofthe House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee for Asia and the Pacific. Duringthe hearing, she posed a question to a State Department official, Alice GWells, on Beijing’s actions in the Himalayan region and compared them withits manoeuvres in the disputed South China Sea.

Tensions between India and China reached their peak during a 73-daystandoff in Doklam near Bhutan over Beijing’s construction of a road in thearea. The standoff ended after both sides agreed to disengage, and therehave been no confirmed or official reports of China resuming any activitiessince then.

“Although both countries backed down, China has quietly resumed itsactivities in Doklam and neither Bhutan nor India has sought to dissuadeit. China’s activities in the Himalayas remind me of its south China Seapolicies. How should our failure to respond to the militarisation of theSouth China Sea inform the international response to these Himalayan borderdisputes?” Wagner asked.

Wager did not elaborate on her claim of China resuming its activities.

In her response, Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Statefor South and Central Asia, did not directly refer to Doklam, but toldWagner and other lawmakers: “I would assess that India is vigorouslydefending its northern borders and this (the situation at the northernborders) is a subject of concern to India.”

Wells said US looks to the Indo-Pacific strategy put forward by the Trumpadministration in light of the ‘South China Sea’s Strategy’, a reference toChina’s aggressive claims of sovereignty over all of South China Sea.Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

“How do we maintain the region to be open, to have maritime security, tonot have militarisation that would imperil the 70 per cent of globaltrade?” Wells said. “We need to do that by giving authority to sovereignnations to have choices in how they develop, to have choices in theirpartnerships,” Wells said.

In New Delhi, Minister of State for External Affairs Ministry V K Singhtold Rajya Sabha today that there have been no new developments at the siteof the face-off with China in Doklam and its vicinity, and status quoprevails in the area.

“Since the disengagement of Indian and Chinese border personnel in theDoklam area on August 28, 2017, there have been no new developments at thefaceoff site and its vicinity. The status quo prevails in this area,” Singhsaid in a written reply to a question on whether China has constructed newroads in the southern part of the Doklam Plateau.

In a statement later, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumarrepeated Singh’s comments.

Although the Congressional hearing was to discuss the Trumpadministration’s budget request for the financial year 2019 for South Asia,the sub-committee chairman, Congressman Ted Yoho, raised the issue ofChina’s aggressive posture in South Asia.