Beijing For Small-Scale Military Offensive Against India: Chinese Daily

China is planning a small-scale military operation to push back Indian troops from the Doklam area within two weeks, according to a report in a state-run daily on Saturday.

The two countries have been locked in a standoff in the Sikkim sector since June 16 after Chinese troops began constructing a road near the Bhutan tri-junction.

“China will not allow the military standoff between China and India in Doklam to last for too long, and there may be a small-scale military operation to expel Indian troops within two weeks,” Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted by the Global Times.

Bhutan has opposed the road saying the area belongs to Thimpu and has accused Beijing of violating agreements that aim to maintain the status quo until disputes over boundary are resolved.

India says the Chinese action to construct the road was unilateral. The Sikkim sector is the only gateway to India's northeastern states and New Delhi fears the road would allow China to cut off that access.

In the Global Times report, the expert wrote, "Chinese side will inform the Indian foreign ministry before its operation." India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said that both sides should first pull back their troops before holding talks for peaceful resolution of the impasse.

Swaraj on Thursday again asserted that war cannot settle anything. She said India was engaged with China to resolve the differences and advocated patience.

Her ministry's spokesman Gopal Baglay said on Friday that India was in close coordination with Bhutan over the Doklam issue. But the Chinese media, particularly the Global Times, has unleashed a barrage of anti-India rhetoric in recent weeks, fueling tensions.

The researcher, in the article, also cited a state-run CCTV report about live fire exercises in Tibet recently.

The military standoff comes ahead of the BRICS Summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen early next month, where leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will meet.