Don’t pin hopes on Doval’s visit, withdraw troops first : China

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ The upcoming visit of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is ‘not an opportunity to settle the standoff in accordance with India’s will’, Chinese state-run media said on Tuesday.

On Monday, China had hinted that a bilateral meeting between State Councillor Yang Jiechi and NSA Doval could take place on the sidelines of a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) NSAs’ meet in Beijing.

Calling Doval to be ‘one of the main schemers behind the current border standoff’, the state-run said the ‘Chinese side will not talk with India on the issue before the Indian troops’ unconditional withdrawal from Chinese territory’.

The state run media said that ‘the Indian media is pinning high hopes on the trip to settle the ongoing dispute…(but) Beijing is firm that India’s withdrawal from Chinese territory is a precondition and a basis for any meaningful dialogue between the two sides’.