Doklam standoff: India-China row may continue till November, says former NSA

Former national security adviser Shivshankar Menon said on Friday that the India-China dispute in Dolkam sector was likely to continue till the annual Congress of

Former national security adviser Shivshankar Menon said on Friday that the India-China dispute in Dolkam sector was likely to continue till the annual Congress of the Communist Party of China gets over in November.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping leave after a group picture during BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit in Benaulim, in the western state of Goa, India, October 16, 2016. (Reuters File)

“.. Don’t expect flexibility till the party Congress is over. No leader would like to come across as weak to the party Congress. So the continuation of the situation is expected till November,” Menon said at an interaction at the Foreign Correspondents Club.

India and China have been locked in a standoff in India-Bhutan-China tri-junction for a month now with no immediate end in sight.

Menon, who has also served as the foreign secretary, said the face off was also a message from China that “why are you in Bhutan? They don’t recognise your locus standi in Bhutan”.

Menon, who served as country’s envoy to China, said the once prevalent global order had become stagnant and the reality of today’s time was multiple regional orders. He added that Iran did not view the development of Chabahar port as a “Chinese strategy”.

“The Iranians would like to see it as an economic project and they would like India and Iran to co-exist,” the former National Security Adviser said.