Even as media reports continue to claim that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has once again started expanding roads at the Indo-China border in Doklam – about 10 kilometres from the previous site, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that India's borders are currently "completely safe".
China says Nirmala Sitharaman's 'Namaste' sends warm signals to them
In fact, Singh also added that China no longer considers India a weak nation.
India powerful under Modi
"India's borders are completely safe, and China has started to understand that India is no more weak. Its strength has grown," Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.
In fact, Singh harped on the point that India's gain in power is because of the governance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Since the formation of government at the Centre under the leadership of PM Modi, India has become a powerful country in the world. India's prestige at the international level has grown," he said.
Singh also took a dig at Pakistan and accused it of for "sending terrorists" to India.
But this is not the first time that Singh has highlighted India's strength. Earlier, on October 8, Singh while speaking at the 9th Vishwakarma Jayanothsav in Bengaluru said that India has become a global power in recent times following the end of the two-month-long Doklam standoff.
"Everyone was expecting that relation between China and India will deteriorate due to the Doklam issue, but both the countries resolved the issue with comprehension. Had India remained weak, the Doklam standoff would not have been resolved till now. It was possible only because India has become a world power," said Rajnath.
Doklam standoff effect
However, India's emergence as a global power seems to falter as another PTI report claims that the Doklam standoff has affected a high-speed train project in south India.
The railway officials said that the progress of the project that completed a feasibility study a year ago has been stalled due lack of response, which they feel is due to the India-China border issue in Sikkim.
According to the report, the officials have been unable to get in touch with officials of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd (CREEC) despite repeatedly trying to contact them via e-mails.
"We have even tried to get in touch with them through their Embassy here, but we are yet to hear from them," an official told PTI.
