press trust of india
Huairou (China), August 7: Senior Col Li Li of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) may be thousands of kilometers away from Doklam but has a stern message for the Indian Army – withdraw from the Chinese territory to avoid confrontation.
A visit by Indian journalists, sponsored by the Chinese government, Monday turned into a propaganda exercise by the Chinese Army for delivering its message on the prolonged standoff between troops of the two countries in Doklam near Sikkim.
Sr Col Li claimed, “What the Indian troops have done is an invasion of Chinese territory.”
“You can report about what the Chinese soldiers are thinking about. I am a soldier I will try my best to protect territorial integrity. We have the resolve and determination,” he told Indian journalists taken to visit this garrison on the outskirts of Beijing.
The visit included a rare demonstration of combat skills of the PLA troops before the Indian media.
The demonstration included sharp shooting skills with small arms, capture of “hostile forces” in close combat, counter-terrorism and laser simulation force-on-force training of reinforced infantry squads.
Li, however, clarified that the demonstration had no particular reference to Doklam where China says 48 Indian troops still stayed put along with a bulldozer.
“In addition, there are still a large number of Indian armed forces congregating on the boundary and on the Indian side of the boundary,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry had said earlier.
Responding to questions on the present impasse in Doklam, he said, “What the PLA will do depends on the actions of the Indian side. We will take appropriate action when it is necessary.”
“We will follow the orders of the CPC (ruling Communist Party of China) and the Central Military Commission (the overall high command of the 2.3 million strong army headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping).”