While not advocating war, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday urged the Centre to take a tough stand on the continuing border stand-off with China if the neighbouring country doesn't respond to diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue.
The problem needs to be resolved through negotiations and diplomacy, but "we cannot turn our back to the threat posed by the aggressive moves of the Chinese at the border," he said in response to questions during a video press conference.
As sovereign nations, both countries should find a diplomatic solution to the problem, said Amarinder Singh, adding that India "does not want war but we will not accept bullying by China".
"We want peace, but they cannot push us around," he said, asserting that the Chinese had to be pushed out of the Indian territory.
Asserting that India cannot keep allowing its land to go away, the Chief Minister said that if the threat is not countered, the Chinese will demand more and more land in the future, which cannot be permitted at any cost.
Citing the Dokhlam incident, he pointed out that such provocations on the part of China were common, and they had encroached into Indian territory even in Aksai Chin, and had resorted to similar actions in Arunachal Pradesh.
Attempts have been made by China in the past to lay claims on Indian land in Himachal Pradesh too, the Chief Minister pointed out.
China has to leave the Indian territory into which they have now moved in and on which they have no right, said Amarinder Singh, warning that the Indian armed forces were now much more modernised and equipped than they were back in 1962, and "China cannot not afford to take us lightly".