Chinese diplomat Wang Wenli on Tuesday claimed that Bhutan has acknowledged that the Doklam area in the Sikkim sector, where India and China are currently locked in a diplomatic standoff, belongs to Beijing, PTI reported. She said Bhutan has conveyed through diplomatic channels that Doklam is not its territory.

Wang, however, cited Bhutanese state media and legal blogs, which she claimed had “more convincing information”. But, she did not provide any evidence for her claim.

“After the incident, the Bhutanese made it very clear to us that the place where the trespassing happened is not Bhutan’s territory,” Wang, who is the deputy director general of the department of boundary and ocean affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a delegation of Indian media. “Bhutanese find it very strange that the Indian border troops are on the Chinese soil.”

Bhutan had accused China of violating a bilateral pact after its troops tried to construct a road in the Doklam area.

Both India and China have maintained that troops from the other country had transgressed into their territory in the Sikkim sector’s Doklam area. Bilateral ties have been strained since the Indian Army stopped China from constructing a road in the region. New Delhi has made it clear that it will not allow China to construct a motorable road up to the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction through the Doklam plateau.