In the wake of Sikkim sector deadlock, Chinese experts on Monday said the country would fiercely safeguard its sovereignty-- even if it meant war-- in the border skirmishes with India.
A war between India and China is possible if the conflict in Doklam area is not handled properly, state-run Global Times quoted Chinese experts as saying. The 220-km stretch out of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh falls in Sikkim.
"China is also different from what it was in 1962," Wang Dehua, a professor at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies told the daily in reference to Defence Minister Arun Jaitley's statement that the India of 2017 is different from the India of 1962.
"India has been treating China as its biggest competitor since 1962, as both countries share many similarities. For instance, they are both developing countries with huge populations," Wang said.
"In 1962, China fought a war with India after the latter encroached on Chinese territory, resulting in the deaths of 722 Chinese troops and 4,383 Indian soldiers," the Global Times report said adding experts have called on both India and China to resolve disputes through dialogue and negotiations.
"Both sides should focus on development rather than conflict or war... A conflict between the two may give other countries a chance to take advantage, for example, the US," Zhao Gancheng, director of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the newspaper.
"India should change its hostile attitude toward China as a good relationship is beneficial for both sides," Wang said.
Chinese experts also disagreed with reports that India's Ministry of Defence is surveying the India-China border to build an "all-weather railway corridor" with broad-gauge network to facilitate swift movement of troops and weaponry.
"India is trying to catch up with China in the construction of frontier defence," Zhao said.
