Sikkim standoff: India ‘trampling’ on Panchsheel agreement with China

China has been accused of playing up the border standoff with India in the state of Sikkim.

China has said Indian troops were still within Chinese territory and they would have to withdraw for the situation to be resolved. The nation has claimed that New Delhi is “trampling” upon the Panchsheel pact, otherwise known as the “five principles of peaceful existence” between the two countries, created in 1954.

For more than three weeks, border guards from both nations have been in a tense face-off, the longest between the two sides, following allegations and counter allegations of trespass and the illegal construction of roads and bunkers.

China also claimed that India was "misleading the public" by saying that Chinese troops are building a road in the Sikkim region which could endanger India's access to its north-eastern states.