In response to India deploying troops to a disputed border area in its state of Sikkim, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said India has "trampled" on international law and a peaceful coexistence treaty. Photo by Farooq Khan/EPA
July 5 (UPI) -- China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said India has "trampled" on a peaceful coexistence treaty amid a military standoff related to a border dispute in the Indian state of Sikkim.
The military standoff began in early June in an area bordering China and India that China calls Donglang but that is also known as the Doklam plateau. China accuses India of violating a 1890 border agreement between China and Britain, which once controlled India's affairs, by having troops in the disputed area.
India accuses China, in part, of escalating the conflict as retribution for the Dalai Lama's visit to India's Arunachal Pradesh state in April. At the time, China said it would take "necessary measures" to defend its territory after India allowed the Dalai Lama to visit "disputed" parts of Arunachal Pradesh, which is near Sikkim.
Gen Shuang, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, on Wednesday said India is violating international law and the 1954 Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, or Panchsheel Treaty, that serves as the basis of China and India's relations.
"I want to point that the relevant actions by the Indian side violated the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter in defiance of the international law and international norms. As we all know in 1950s China, India and Myanmar proposed the five principles of co-existence," Gen told reporters in Beijing. "However to the surprise of everyone, the Indian side trampled on the basic norms governing the international relations proposed by itself by illegally crossing into other country's territory."
Tensions also have escalated in the monthlong standoff due to fiery rhetoric published in Chinese state-run media outlets.
China's state-run Global Times, which is owned by the Communist Party of China, in an editorial on Wednesday, said India will be "kicked out" from the area and will suffer "greater losses" when compared to the 1962 Sino-Indian War between China and India, which started mainly due to a border dispute.
"We firmly believe that the face-off in the Donglang area will end up with the Indian troops in retreat. The Indian military can choose to return to its territory with dignity, or be kicked out of the area by Chinese soldiers," the Global Times wrote. "The Chinese public is infuriated by India's provocation. We believe the Chinese People's Liberation Army is powerful enough to expel Indian troops out of Chinese territory ... This time, we must teach New Delhi a bitter lesson."
Some Indian government officials have accused China of attempting to threaten Indian security by building a road near the disputed area where the standoff is ongoing -- a claim rejected by Chinese officials and state-run media.
In response to the escalating tensions, Indian Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat in June said the "Indian Army is fully ready for a two and a half front war" -- a comment described by a Chinese Army official as "extremely irresponsible."
"We hope that the particular person in the Indian Army could learn from historical lessons and stop such clamoring for war," People's Liberation Army spokesman Col Wu Qian then said.
