NEW DELHI – War was not a solution and India would resolve the border standoff with China through dialogue, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Thursday, as the Communist neighbour again asked New Delhi to withdraw troops from Doklam if it wanted peace.
It was not possible to resolve every issue through war and solutions could be found through talks, Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha about the standoff between the border guards of the two countries close to Sikkim in India’s northeast.
“Patience and bhasha saiyam (restraint) are very important to resolve the issue. If there is no restraint, it provokes the other side,” Swaraj said during a four-and-a-half-hour discussion on India’s foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners.
Opposition member raised various issues including Doklam standoff, China’s attempts to encircle India and New Delhi’s Pakistan policy.
Talking about Dokhlam standoff, Swaraj targeted Congress party over its vice president Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with Chinese ambassador. She said, “sad with the fact that the leader of the biggest opposition party called China’s ambassador to know about the situation in China when he could have asked about it from the Indian government.”
Swaraj said that “patience is key to resolving problems” because of patience is lost, there can be a provocation on the other side. “We will keep patience to resolve the issue,” she said referring to the Dokalam stand-off issue with China.
“We will keep engaging with China to resolve the dispute,” Swaraj added.
She also rejected any possibility of war with China. In response to questions, she said military readiness is always there as the military is meant to fight wars. “But war cannot resolve problems. So wisdom is to resolve diplomatically,” the external affairs minister asserted.” She expressed confidence that the issue can be resolved through bilateral talks.
