By Vishnu Makhijani, IANS
Gangtok : India Saturday asserted that none of its bunkers had been destroyed by Chinese troops on the frontier in Sikkim but admitted that differences in perceptions of the border alignment occasionally led to “minor situations”.
“Nothing like that has happened in Indian territory,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony firmly stated at a press conference here when asked about media reports Saturday that Chinese troops had destroyed some Indian bunkers on the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China south of the Nathu La pass.
The minister, who arrived here Saturday on a two-day visit, will be visiting Nathu La on Sunday for a briefing on the situation along Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
At his press conference, Antony also said discussions were underway on conducting the first India-China war games and hoped this would get underway later this year.
He spoke of the need to create more road infrastructure in the northeast, particularly in the border areas, to keep pace with developments on the Chinese side.
Antony denied reports that Chinese troops had infiltrated into the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh and destroyed a Buddha statue in the area.
Speaking about the boundary issue, the minister said: “We have a long border. They have their perceptions and we have ours. By and large, the border is peaceful.
“This doesn’t mean there are no problems. They are there because of differences in perceptions. As a result, minor problems may arise. We have a mechanism for dealing with this through meetings and through diplomatic channels,” he added.
“As long as the border is unsettled, there will be problems,” Antony maintained.
Was it possible, Antony was asked, that due to the differences in perceptions, India had constructed bunkers in territory the Chinese claimed was theirs?
“No, that is not correct,” he retorted.
After the press conference, an official said it was possible the bunkers were in Bhutanese territory.
“If that is so, it would be for the Bhutanese officials to take up the issue with China,” the official pointed out.
Antony also sought to downplay the boundary differences by pointing out that Indian and Chinese military officials had held one round of discussions on the modalities of conducting the war games and that a second round was on the cards.
“Discussions have taken place. More are needed. If everything goes well, the first exercises will be held in China later this month,” the minister said.
On the issue of infrastructure, Antony admitted that the northeast had not received adequate attention in the past but that this had been reversed in the past two years.
“There is a lot that is happening on the other side (in Tibet). In the past, the northeast did not receive the attention it should have. In the last two years, we have moved to correct this,” the minister pointed out.
“Others gave importance to infrastructure. We did not give it the urgency it deserved. We are slow and our system is slow. We need to improve the system and give more funds to develop infrastructure as quickly as possible,” Antony said.
On the incident at Tawang, about which concern had been expressed in parliament earlier this month, Antony admitted that “there was some damage” to the statue but there was no evidence to suggest a Chinese hand.
“There is a lot of civilian movement in the area but there is no evidence of the Chinese coming there,” he maintained.