Standoff with China: Indian army chief tells troops to remain on guard

Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday asked his troops to remain on guard in case of another standoff with Chinese troops over the Doklam Plateau, according to a report in the Times of India.
According to the report, the army chief said that even if Beijing and New Delhi arrive at a resolution regarding the current standoff, “our troops on the border should not feel it cannot happen again”.
“My message to the troops is to not let down [their] guard,” he was quoted as saying.
The current border tension was triggered by the construction of a road by China in the Doklam area. New Delhi has maintained that the road construction will threaten its national security.
The army chief said that India and China have been unable to arrive at a resolution regarding the tense ongoing standoff between their troops due to different ideas about how it should be carried out, adding that the matter should be “dealt with at diplomatic and political levels”.
Gen Rawat said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a violation of India’s sovereignty, as projects under CPEC cut through the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The border trouble began in June when Chinese soldiers started to extend a road through the Doklam territory ─ known as “Donglang” in Chinese. The tense standoff between India and China has only escalated since then, raising concerns in both capitals of an all-out military conflict. Both sides have made threats while simultaneously calling for negotiations.