Doklam standoff not very serious, India and China have to live side by side: Dalai Lama

New Delhi: Commenting on Doklam standoff Dalai Lama said that it is not very serious; India and China have to live side by side. In a separate yet related development, the Congress recently said India should use the diplomatic route and also try to take help of its old friends like Russia to ensure that China withdraws its troops from Doklam. Congress spokesman Ajay Kumar said that India should endeavour to broker peace on the international border, including using the diplomatic route to ensure that China withdraw its troops from Doklam. "If we lose Doklam, there is every possibility that we may lose the northeastern states to China," he told a press conference. Kumar, a former parliamentarian from the steel city, also asked the Centre to win back the confidence of "its old friends, like Russia, to face China strongly." Asked about China's threat to launch a limited war to drive out Indian forces from Doklam, he said, "A face-off between India and China has never happened in the Sikkim sector. The sector is important for our national security". Kumar criticised the NDA government for failing to tackle China's repeated intrusion in the country's territory. "The government has itself admitted that China had entered into our territory 240 times last year but did not take any step to check it," he said. The Congress spokesperson also questioned the Modi government's logic behind scrapping the proposal of the UPA government to raise a Mountain Division force.