Xi tells Tibetan herdsmen to settle down near India border

Beijing Oct 29 (IANS) Chinese President Xi Jinping has told herdsmen in Tibet to "set down roots" near the Sino-India border and safeguard Chinese territory.

In a reply to the herdsmen who wrote to Xi introducing their township in Lhunze county in Tibet Xi also told them to develop settlements and stay put in the area bordering India.

Situated in southwest China s Tibet Lhunzhe is close to India s Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as its own and calls South Tibet.

He encouraged a herding family to set down roots in the border area safeguard the Chinese territory and develop their hometown according to a short dispatch from Xinhua news agency.

In August Indian and Chinese armies ended a over-two-month military stand-off - worst in decades - in the Sikkim sector which abuts Tibet.

During the face-off China sent battle tanks and conducted military drills in the Tibetan plateau.

India and China have a dragging boundary dispute over the 3 488 km de facto boundary. The two fought a brief but bloody war in 1962.

After being re-elected the General Secretary of the Communist Party last week Xi asked the Chinese Army to be combat-ready.

In his inaugural speech at the meet Xi said China was ready to settle its border dispute with neighbours but it cannot be expected to swallow everything which undermines its and integrity and sovereignty.

--IANS
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