Rahul Gandhi 'Met' Ambassador Luo Zhaohui ?

Rahul Gandhi 'Met' Ambassador Luo Zhaohui ?

Congress Denies Chinese Embassy claim

New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui on July 8 and “exchanged views” on the “current bilateral relations’, the Chinese embassy said on Monday, 10^th July 2017, CNN reports.

The Congress, however, denied that the meeting took place despite an official statement on the Chinese Embassy’s website.

Hitting back at the report, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala questioned the visit by "three Union minsters to China" and the "bonhomie" at G20 Summit, a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese Xi Jinping.

Rahul's question

Rahul Gandhi had last week questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his “silence” on the current standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries in Doklam area in the Sikkim sector.

China and India have been engaged in a standoff in doklam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for the past three weeks after a Chinese army's construction party attempted to build a road.

The controversy

Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doklam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region. Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.

The Indian Army has said it is ready for a long haul in holding onto its position, notwithstanding China ratcheting up rhetoric against India demanding pulling back of its troops.

The Indian soldiers deployed in the disputed area have pitched in tents, in an indication that they are unlikely to retreat unless there was reciprocity from China's PLA personnel in ending the face-off at an altitude of around 10,000 feet in the Sikkim section, PTI quoted official sources as saying.

Confident of diplomatic solution
PTI reported that the officials sounded confident of finding a diplomatic solution to the dispute.

Both the countries had agreed to a mechanism in 2012 to resolve border flare ups through consultations at various levels.

The mechanism has not worked so far in the current case as the standoff near the Bhutan trijunction, triggered by China's attempt to build a road in the strategically important area, has dragged on for over three weeks.

New Delhi has already conveyed to China that such an action would represent a significant change of status quo with "serious" security implications for India. The road link could give China a major military advantage over India.