U.S. won't benefit from escalation of Sino-Indian confrontation: Chinese media

Beijing [China], July 26 (ANI): Annoyed by an article carried by the Washington Examiner suggesting U.S. to provide support for India's efforts to deter and counter China, Chinese state media has said that Washington won't get any benefits from the escalation of the Sino-Indian confrontation. An opinion piece titled "Instigating Sino-Indian confrontation won't benefit US" by Su Tan published in the Global Times, said, "The Americans may think they can copy their South China Sea trick. But what did the US get from the maritime disputes? Likewise, Washington won't get any benefits from the escalation of the Sino-Indian confrontation. China won't give up safeguarding its territory because of US interference." The op-ed said it has been more than five weeks into the border standoff between China and India and some countries other than the two, directly involved, are trying to step in. Citing an article carried by the Washington Examiner on Monday which unsurprisingly hyped the China threat and extolled the US-Indian relationship, the op-ed said that US seems to be everywhere where conflicts come up and it seldom takes an impartial posture to help address the problems. "The US seems to be everywhere when conflicts come up and it seldom takes an impartial posture to help address the problems. Yet partiality is likely to lead to war. There are certain forces in the West that are instigating a military clash between China and India, from which they can seek strategic benefits at no cost to themselves. Washington applied this scheme in the South China Sea disputes," it said. The op-ed also noted Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's remarks during a recent visit to India that the China-India standoff incident is a long-term dispute and territorial disputes should be resolved peacefully and Australia would not like to see an escalation. The opinion piece claimed that there were the invisible hands of the US and the Soviet Union behind the border war between China and India half a century ago. It suggested India to draw a lesson from its defeat in the Indo-China war. "China, the world's second-largest economy, is a close neighbour of India. Thus fighting a war with China will only cost India's opportunities of economic domestic development and its beneficial external environment. In fact, neither China nor India wants a war. China has addressed most of its boundary issues with its neighbours through negotiations," it said. Indian and Chinese troops continue to be locked in a standoff in Doklam and both sides have moved additional troops, ammunition and military equipment to the area. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has beefed up its defence in a region south of the Kunlun Mountains under the pretext of conducting a military exercise near Tibet. Hardware has been moved simultaneously by road and rail by China's western theatre command, which oversees the restive regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, and handles, among others, border issues with India, media reports have said. This show of strength is being projected by Beijing as a warning to India by China to back off from its objection to China constructing a road at the Doklam tri-junction. Earlier, the External Affairs Ministry of India (MEA) reiterated that differences between India and China should not and would not be allowed to become disputes, and added that communication between the two governments have never ceased, nor have been broken. The stand-off emerged after Chinese troops were stopped by the Indian Army from constructing roads at the Doklam border. India claims Sikkim border as part of its territory, while China has said that the area falls on their side as per the 1890 treaty signed between British and China. Consequently, China suspended the annual Kailash Manasarovar Yatra and conceded that the decision to suspend the pilgrimage was due to the border scuffle. It also alleged that the Indian troops had crossed the Sikkim Sector of the Indo-China border. Beijing has accused New Delhi of violating a convention signed in 1890 between Britain and China relating to Sikkim and Tibet.(ANI)