GUWAHATI, Aug 8 - The long standoff between India and China in Doka-La area has not affected the diplomatic and trade relation between the two countries and the Government of India is of the view that the issue can be resolved amicably through talks.
Highly placed sources in the Government of India told The Assam Tribune that the Government of India is keeping all the diplomatic channels open to resolve the issue peacefully and the Government of Bhutan is also taken into confidence in the process of talks to resolve the issue.
Sources revealed that the visits of Indian delegations to China and vice versa are also going on. Talks between India and China are going on at various levels and only recently, the National Security Adviser had detailed talks with the Chinese President. �We cannot divulge the details of the talks at this moment. But it is a fact that discussions are going on at various levels and all possible channels of communication are kept open. The Government of India firmly believes that the issue can be resolved through talks,� sources added and said that various other delegations of both the countries are also visiting each other regularly as the standoff has not affected the diplomatic ties.
Sources said that the trade ties between India and China has also not been affected because of the standoff and India is not considering suspension of such ties at this moment. In fact, China would lose more if the trade ties are suspended at this moment because China�s exports to India are four times higher than India�s exports to China, sources said.
The Government of India is also of the view that the standoff would not escalate into a full scale war despite the Government of China issuing threats, mostly through the state controlled media. �We had longer standoffs in the past in cases such standoffs lasted for more than a year. But those incidents did not turn into wars. We have more than 4,000-km-long international boundary with China and apart from the Doka-La area, we are not having any trouble in any other part of the international boundary at present,� sources admitted.
Sources said that this time, the Chinese are making �lots of noise� over the issue but Government of India maintained its composure and issued only a few statements to clarify its position. However, sources asserted that India would stand firm on the issue despite the Chinese threats. �It is a fact that the Government of India is not worried about the possibility of a war and China also knows that it cannot afford a full scale war at this moment. Our position on the issue is very clear and China should not try to create major infrastructure on disputed areas as agreed upon by both countries,� sources said.
On the threats by the Chinese, sources said that there is nothing new in such threats as China had issued such threats in the past also. Even during the visit of the Dalai Lama to Tawang, China had issued a threat but the visit went off peacefully.
