Risks of conflict remain

China has warned India it is willing to defend territory "at all costs" and it should not harbour any "unrealistic illusions" over a border dispute that threatens to boil over into an open conflict.

This week China's Ministry of National Defense spokesman Wu Quian said Chinese border troops would step up "targeted deployment and training" in a remote region between the two countries.

He said India "should not leave things to luck and not harbour any unrealistic illusions" about China's commitment to defending its territory or push it with the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

"Shaking a mountain is easy but shaking the PLA is hard," he said.

The two countries remain locked in a bitter standoff over the Doklam Plateau, known as Donglang in China which is run by Bhutan. India supports Bhutan's claim over the land, however Chinese soldiers recently arrived to build a mountain road in the area that India fears could leave it vulnerable.

After Chinese bulldozers moved in, India sent troops to evict them, leading to video leaked online of soldiers shoving one another. The US is now urging both sides to work together to prevent what could become a major regional dispute.

Beijing has made virtually daily warnings to its neighbour over the deadlock on a remote Himalayan plateau, where Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense face off.

Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said last week that China is being unusually aggressive in the month-old border dispute with India that shows no sign of easing.

The dispute concerns land near where the boundaries of China, India and Bhutan meet. China has alleged that Indian troops are on its territory. Bhutan and India say the area -- known as the Doklam plateau in India and Donglang to China -- is Bhutanese.

And Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj praised tiny Bhutan for standing up to China in the row. Swaraj reaffirmed that India's security could be jeopardised if China takes over the zone. Bhutan has no diplomatic relations with China and coordinates its relations with Beijing through New Delhi.

The Doklam Plateau is a strategic area for India, essential to maintaining its control over a land corridor known as the "chicken's neck" that connects India's mainland with its remote northeastern states.

India has said the Chinese road project threatens its access to the corridor, while China has questioned why India should even have a say in a matter that concerns only Beijing and Bhutan.

India's army chief warned earlier this month that India's army was capable of fighting "2 1/2 wars" if needed to secure its borders. China has said it will hold talks with India only after Indian troops are withdrawn from the disputed territory.

China and India have a number of border disputes, although the section currently in question is generally regarded as stable.

The two fought a border war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh.  China refers the 90,000 square kilometres area as "Southern Tibet".   In 2014, hundreds of Indian and Chinese troops faced off on the de facto border known as the Line of Actual Control that runs along the northwest Indian region of Ladakh.

The Doklam standoff is the latest of many irritants dogging relations between the world's two most populous nations.

For years, India has watched uneasily as China vigorously wooed Bhutan and other, smaller countries in India's traditional sphere of influence, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

China, meanwhile, has been frustrated with India's refusal to sign onto a massive effort to build railways, ports and roads reaching from Asia to Europe and the Middle East.

The project includes a China-Pakistan economic development program aimed at absorbing as much as $46 billion in investment, most of it from Chinese banks.