China advises India to draw lessons from Doklam

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday advised India to draw lessons from the Doklam incident and said India should prevent such incidents in future following the end of the 71-day military stand-off in a strategically important area near the Sikkim-Tibet-Bhutan trijunction.

"We hope the Indian side will learn lessons from this incident and prevent similar things from happening again," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news briefing on the upcoming BRICS summit, which includes both nations as well as Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

Wang also said it was natural for two big nations to have differences, but they needed to set them aside and work out a solution in the long run.

This statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry comes two days after India and China agreed to end their stand-off in the Doklam Plateau by reaching an understanding to not let their long standing differences become disputes.

"We hope through the efforts from both sides we will maintain healthy and stable momentum of growth. This is in the interest of not only Indian and Chinese people, but also meets the aspirations of the international community," Wang said at a press conference on the preparations for the BRICS summit next week, which will be attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Both India and China are big countries. It's only natural that there are some problems in our interactions. What is important is that we put these differences at an appropriate place," Wang said.

Wang stated, "We hope China and India will join hands and work together for the rejuvenation of, for development of our region and contribute our share to the greater development."

Indicating of finding a solution in the long run, Wang said, "And under the principles of mutual respect and following the consensus of the leaders, we need to handle and manage them properly. In the meantime, with our engagement through a different mechanism, we need to work out a solution in the long run."

At the invitation of the President of China Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Xiamen in China's Fujian province, during September 3-5 to attend the ninth BRICS Summit, said a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement on Tuesday.

The India-China stand-off at Doklam, near the Sikkim-Tibet-Bhutan trijunction, had been going on for more than two months and the situation arose after China started constructing a road in the area.

India objected to the road construction after the Chinese troops ignored Bhutanese protests, triggering a face-off on June 16.