This refers to the editorial, “The Chinese face-off” (July 6). For quite some time now, escalation of tensions between India and China have been a cause of concern which has culminated into an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the two neighbours. What made matters worse was the People's liberation Army’s entrance into the Doklam area in a bid to construct a road to the disputed India-China-Bhutan tri-junction that flies in the face of the 2007 mutual defence agreement. Moreover, there have also been veiled threats and resultant counter threats by both sides that have put the situation in jeopardy.
At a time when India is raring to make global strides for self-sufficiency and self-reliance, a war will turn out to be the diciest option that will be detrimental to the entire Asia region, particularly to China, India and Bhutan. Hence, ‘sustained dialogue' is the best solution to the problem and it should be premised on the quid pro quo stance instead. Besides, status quo must be maintained even as the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, taking an exception to the Chinese maps showing siezable region of Bhutan as part of Tibet, had written a letter to his then Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in 1959.