India discusses trijunction impasse with visiting Australian Minister

In an attempt to brief the international community on the Indian version of events, the Indian government on Tuesday discussed the Indo-China face-off in Doklam with Julie Bishop, the visiting Australian Foreign Minister. Bishop is on a two-day visit to India to discuss a range of key areas including defence, security and trade. 

Bishop urged both India and China, to resolve the issue peacefully to prevent any escalation resulting in “miscalculation” or “misjudgement”. The Australian Foreign Minister’s choice of words reflect a sense of unease in the international community, according to reports. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had briefed the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor about China’s “usually aggressive” stand. Jaishankar’s remarks came soon after the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang asked India not to use “trespass” into Doklam area as a “policy tool” to achieve its political targets.

This is the first time that the month-long impasse was discussed with a visiting foreign leader. Beijing had briefed envoys of other countries a day earlier.