India’s Minister of External Affairs on Tuesday issued a statement refuting comments attributed to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval by Chinese state media, labelling them as “false”.
India urged Chinese media, including the China Daily and the Global Times to “refrain from such speculative reporting”.
“We have seen reports in Chinese state media, including in China Daily and Huanqiu Shibao (Global Times), which had attributed some comments to NSA Shri Ajit Doval. These reports are completely false and are not based in facts,” said India’s foreign ministry in a statement on Tuesday.
In an editorial titled “India risks repeat of past humiliation” by China Daily, the report quoted National Security Adviser Ajit Doval as saying that the Indian army is ready for a “long-drawn standoff with China”.
India and China have been locking horns in a long-standing border dispute on the LAC since April. Since then the armies of both countries have clashed on several occasions, including on 15-16 June when 20 Indian soldiers and a number of Chinese soldiers were killed in a brawl.
China's defence ministry on Monday accused India of "severe military provocation" and said India had "opened fire to threaten Chinese border defence patrol officers".
New Delhi rejected allegations of provocation and said that Chinese troops had tried to circle Indian positions near the border and fired shots in the air. The ministry underlined that Indian troops had not at any moment crossed the demarcation line.
"It is the PLA that has been blatantly violating agreements and carrying out aggressive manoeuvres," the Indian army said.
