Sikkim standoff: Pentagon encourages India, China to indulge in dialogue to reduce border tension

The month old India-China border standoff has managed to grab international headlines lately with countries like Australia, neighboring Pakistan and EU suggesting ways to defuse tensions between the two nations. But nothing could be drawn out of it and the situation remains the same.

Now, United States Department of Defense- the Pentagon has encouraged India and China to reduce ongoing border tension by indulging in a dialogue “free of any coercive aspects.

 “We encourage India and China to engage in direct dialogue aimed at reducing tensions and free of any coercive aspects,” news agency PTI quoted Gary Ross, a Defence Department spokesman as saying.

“We refer you to the Governments of India and China for further information. We encourage India and China to engage in direct dialogue aimed at reducing tensions. We are not going to speculate on such matters,” Ross said when asked if the Pentagon fears an escalation of tension between India and China.

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Over the past week, the US State Department too have been making similar statements, but Pentagon has sought direct dialogue between India and China on reducing tension “free of any coercive aspects”.

Notably, in recent past few years, almost all the Chinese neighbours have been accusing Beijing of coercive tactics to settle border disputes.

The month-long India-China border standoff in the Sikkim sector is seen as part of same Chinese coercive tactics to change the status quo. India has taken a strong stand against such a Chinese move.

(With PTI inputs)