Just like India, China is also different from 1962: Beijing

The ongoing verbal spat between China and India on Monday escalated as Beijing said the Indian Army's action to stop Chinese troops from constructing a road in an area near Sikkim is a "betrayal" of the position taken by successive Indian governments and India must pull back its soldiers.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that the Sino-India border in the Sikkim sector is well demarcated.

"By entering into the Chinese territory and obstructing Chinese troops' normal activities, India has violated the existing convention on the boundary and basic principle of international law and obstructed peace and stability of the boundary area," Geng told reporters at a briefing.

"We require the Indian side to withdraw their troops to the Indian side of the boundary and create conditions for he restoration of peace and stability in the relevant areas."

China and India have been engaged in a standoff in the Doka La area near the Bhutan trijunction for almost a month in what has been the longest such impasse between the two armies since 1962, when the two countries fought a brief war.

Sikkim, which became a part of India in May 1976, is the only state which has a demarcated border with China. The lines are based on a treaty signed with the Chinese in 1898. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng said India needs to observe the treaty and pull back its troops immediately. He dismissed Defence Minister Arun Jaitley's remarks that India of 2017 is different from what it was in 1962, saying China too is different and will take "all necessary measures" to safeguard its territorial sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army on Monday maintained that no bulldozers were used when its bunkers were destroyed by the Chinese army amid the current standoff with China in the Sikkim sector.

The army also denied that the border standoff with China is the longest ever since 1962.

"The incident is not the longest standoff between the two nations," said a statement issued by the Army spokesman here.