ISLAMABAD: China has rejected US President Donald Trump's offer to 'mediate' between Beijing and New Delhi to end their border standoff.
Beijing said that the two countries are capable of properly resolving their differences through dialogue and did not require the help of a 'third party'.
Trump on Wednesday offered to 'mediate or arbitrate' the raging border dispute between China and India, saying he was 'ready, willing and able' to ease the tensions, amid the continuing standoff between the armies of the two.
Reacting for the first time to the US, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said, the two countries did not want the "intervention" from a third party to resolve the current military standoff. "Between China and India we have existing border-related mechanisms and communication channels," Zhao told a media briefing.
"We are capable of properly resolving the issues between us through dialogue and consultation. We do not need the intervention of the third party," he said. Trump reiterated his offer on Thursday while speaking to reporters at the White House. Responding to a question on his tweet, Trump renewed his offer, saying if called for help, 'I would do that (mediate). If they thought it would help' about 'mediate or arbitrate, I would do that', he said. India on Wednesday said it was engaged with China to peacefully resolve the border row, in a carefully crafted reaction to Trump's offer to arbitrate between the two to settle their decades-old dispute. "We are engaged with the Chinese side to peacefully resolve it," Indian External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson said. President Trump has previously offered to mediate between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir issue. At the Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing on Friday, the spokesman said, "China's position on the China-India boundary question is consistent and clear." "We have been implementing the important consensus reached by leaders of both the countries, observing the bilateral agreements and have been committed to safeguarding territorial sovereignty and security, stability and peace in the border area," Zhao said. He reiterated his earlier comment that 'Now the overall situation in the China-India border area is stable and controllable', he said. On Thursday, an op-ed in a state-run newspaper Global Times also reflected Beijing's stand on the offer of mediation by President Trump. Several areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh and North Sikkim have witnessed major military build-up by both the Chinese and Indian armies recently, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs. India has said the Chinese military was hindering normal patrolling by its troops along the LAC in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly refuted Beijing's contention that the escalating tension between the two armies was triggered by trespassing of Indian forces across the Chinese side. The China-India border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet which India has occupied. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not spoken with US President Donald Trump about the South Asian nation's military standoff with China, a government source said, after Trump suggested Modi was upset about border tension.
The neighbours' troops have been facing off along the disputed border in the western Himalayas since early May, after Chinese troops intruded into Indian territory, according to Indian military officials.
“They have a big conflict going with India and China. Two countries with 1.4 billion people. Two countries with very powerful militaries,” Trump told reporters, according to a White House transcript.