Chinese army incursion serious issue: BJP

New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) The recent incursion by the Chinese army into Indian territory is a serious issue and the government must take it up at the top level, the BJP demanded Wednesday.

"The BJP demands that the government of India take up the issue with China at the level of prime minister, external affairs minister and defence minister," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

"The government appears to be relying too much on the flag meeting to resolve the issue," he said.

According to BJP, it is not the first time that Chinese troops have intruded into Indian territory.

"Two weeks ago, 50 People's Liberation Army soldiers, escorted by two helicopters, infiltrated into Ladakh, 10 km inside India's territory near the Daulat Beg Oldie sector, which has the highest air strip in the world, and set up a camp in an abandoned Indian bunker," said Javadekar.

Daulat Beg Oldie sector is one of the most important sectors for India -- during the 1962 war too, Indian Air Force had conducted sorties from this air strip.

According to the BJP, there has been constant Chinese infiltration in Arunachal Pradesh and whether it is a case of stapled visa for natives of Jammu and Kashmir or Arunachal or China's infrastructural and strategic build-up in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, China is busy in aggressively increasing its influence in India's neighbourhood.

"The growing presence of China in Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives and Sri Lanka is already a matter of grave concern," Javadekar said.