China today released a 15-page statement slamming India’s stand on the on-going border stand-off in Doklam near the India-China-Bhutan trijunction and demanding “immediate and unconditional withdrawal”.

The statement also accused India of using Bhutan as “a pretext”. “The China-Bhutan boundary issue is one between China and Bhutan,” it said. “It has nothing to do with India. As a third party, India has no right to interfere in or impede the boundary talks between China and Bhutan, still less the right to make territorial claims on Bhutan’s behalf. India’s intrusion into the Chinese territory under the pretext of Bhutan has not only violated China’s territorial sovereignty but also challenged Bhutan’s sovereignty and independence.”

The statement from Beijing follows repeated similar statements from the Foreign Ministry and PLA over the stand-off in recent weeks, and it was the longest yet.

“China will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests,” said the statement, that was released by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing and Chinese Embassy in New Delhi.

The statement slammed India for “trespassing” into the Doklam region, which China sees as its territory but India and Bhutan see as Bhutanese.

It said that “over 400” Indian border troops had on June 18 “advanced over 180 metres into Chinese territory”, and that as of the end of July,  “there were still over 40 Indian border troops and one bulldozer illegally staying in the Chinese territory.”

This “very serious” incident, Beijing said, was “fundamentally different from past frictions between the border troops of the two sides in areas with undelimited boundary”.

The statement sought to rebut India’s June 30 statement on the stand-off, which noted that China’s road-building had changed the status quo in the region and also contravened a 2012 understanding by both countries that the location of the India-China-Bhutan trijunction would be determined through consultations with Bhutan, the third party.

Beijing, however, accused India of “invent[ing] various excuses to justify its illegal action” and said India’s “arguments have no factual or legal grounds at all and are simply untenable.”

“To cross a delimited boundary and enter the territory of a neighboring country on the grounds of so-called ‘security concerns’, for whatever activities, runs counter to the basic principles of international law and basic norms governing international relations,” it said. “No such attempt will be tolerated by any sovereign State, still less should it be the normal way of conduct between China and India as two neighbouring States.”

It reiterated Beijing’s demand for India “to immediately withdraw its trespassing border troops back to the Indian side of the boundary” and also called for India to “conduct a thorough investigation into the illegal trespass so as to swiftly and appropriately resolve the incident and restore peace and tranquility to the border area between the two countries”.

“This would serve the fundamental interests of both countries and go along with the shared expectations of countries in the region and the wider international community,” it concluded.