India says ready for border talks

India on Thursday said it was ready to hold talks with China about both sides pulling back their forces to end the stand-off in the Himalayas, but Beijing has insisted its rival withdraw troops first. The two sides have been locked in an escalating confrontation for more than a month in the southernmost part of Tibet in an area also claimed by Indian ally Bhutan. According to the South China Morning Post, the crisis was ­triggered when Chinese teams began building a road onto the Doklam Plateau, known as Donglang in Chinese. India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in Parliament in New Delhi that a 2012 agreement required China and India to settle the boundary issue with Bhutan. “If China unilaterally changes the status quo of the tri-junction, it becomes a matter of security concern for India,” she said, referring to the area where the three countries meet.