Sushma, Rajnath to brief Opposition ahead of Parliament session

​New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will brief an all-party meeting on the stand-off with China on Friday evening.

The meeting planned at Singh’s residence comes in the wake of the longest stand-off between the neighbours along the border in recent times and an overall dip in bilateral ties.

Ahead of Parliament’s monsoon session, the government has decided to brief Opposition leaders on developments on the issue to build a consensus to deal with its biggest neighbour.

In the latest tussle, New Delhi has expressed concerns over China trying to change the status quo at the India-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction in Doklam area of Sikkim, where Indian troops stopped road construction by Chinese soldiers.

For India, this move is against a 2012 bilateral understanding that requires China to take the party concerned (Bhutan) into confidence before any construction activities. Bhutan which doesn’t have diplomatic ties with China launched a protest against Chinese road construction activities at the tri-junction.

China has called for immediate withdrawal of the Indian troops from the area, and warned that the situation could get worse.

Ties with China have been strained recently due to a host of irritants, including Beijing blocking India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group and the China Pakistan economic corridor which goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.