Sikkim row: China issues safety advisory for its citizens in India

Beijing: China on Saturday issued a safety advisory for its citizens travelling to India amid the standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam area in the Sikkim sector.

"It is not a travel alert. It is advisory asking Chinese travellers to be careful," an official of the Foreign Ministry said.

The advisory asked Chinese travellers to India to pay close attention to the security situation and take necessary precautions.

The advisory was issued through the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.

Read: Amid Sikkim row, Chinese Prez says seek ‘political, peaceful settlement’ of disputes'

On July 5, China had said that it will decide on issuing travel alert for Chinese citizens visiting India depending on the security situation, playing down reports in the official media asking Chinese investors to be on alert in view of the standoff at the border.

China and India have been engaged in the standoff in the Doklam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for the past three weeks after a Chinese Army's construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which

Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region. Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.

Read: India including tri-junction in Sikkim standoff due to ulterior motives: China

Earlier on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping had urged the BRICS countries to seek "political and peaceful settlement" of "regional conflicts and disputes".

Xi made the appeal at an informal leaders' meeting of the BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in the German city of Hamburg, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.