'Will not give up any inch of territory': Chinese media warns ahead of India-China meeting over border standoff

A day before Corps Commander level talks between India and China over the month-long standoff in eastern Ladakh, a Chinese government mouthpiece on Friday warned that Beijing will not give up an inch of territory even though it wants good-neighbourly relations with New Delhi. 

"China does not want to fall foul of India. Good-neighbourly relations have been China's basic national policy over the past decades, and China firmly adheres to a peaceful resolution of border disputes. We have no reason to make India our enemy," an editorial published in Global Times said.

"But China will not give up any inch of territory. Once India makes a strategic misjudgment and nibbles away at China's territory, China will never condone it. China is bound to make strong countermeasures. We believe India knows very well that China will not be at a disadvantage in any China-India military operations along the border area," it said. 

The daily said India will enjoy a peaceful international environment with China-India cooperation. "But if the two countries face a showdown on the border issue, the entire Himalayan region and the Indian subcontinent will face instability. No external force can change this. Maintaining peace along border areas and friendly cooperation is in line with the two countries' interests," it added. 

"As China has made clear its friendly policy toward India, India should return the favor instead of being fooled by Washington. China's strategic situation is not that terrible. Since we do not fear US suppression, how can we allow some force to use US support to make trouble for China?" it further said. 

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a bitter face-off in several areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh for nearly a month. 

Both the sides are expected to hold talks to end the month-long standoff on Saturday. The talks will be led lieutenant generals from both the armies.

Lieutenant Gen Harinder Singh, 14 Corps Commander, will represent India while Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, will represent China, Indian Army sources said. 

The two armies have already held at least 10 rounds of negotiations between local commanders as well as major general-rank officials but failed to make any breakthrough. 

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC and the two nuclear-armed neighbours established the highest level of mechanism to deal with border disputes following 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff, and the second informal meeting was held last year in the coastal town of Mahabalipuram, almost 50 kilometers south of Chennai.