India said on Monday it had agreed with China to pull back troops to end a months-long face-off along a disputed Himalayan region, with reports from Doklam suggesting Beijing has halted work on a road that triggered the row.
India and China have withdrawn troops from a disputed Himalayan region on the border with China, foreign ministries from the two countries announced Monday, defusing a tense standoff.
The standoff over the strategic Doklam plateau in the eastern Himalayas had dragged on for two and a half months, much longer than previous border flare-ups that have erupted along their 3,500 kilometer border, parts of which are still disputed.
It began when Indian troops obstructed China from building a road at Doklam, a Himalayan plateau disputed between China and Bhutan. Since then, about 300 troops from each side have been confronting each other, raising fears of a wider conflict. Fears that control of the plateau would give Chinese troops easy access to a strategic strip of land which connects India to its northeast had prompted New Delhi to refuse to vacate the territory, despite angry demands by China.
While China accused India of entering its territory, New Delhi maintained the plateau was disputed territory between Bhutan and China and it had moved in to help its tiny neighbor.
News support from washington post, Hindusthan times, rediff
