India's silence has worked: Navy chief

India's muted response on the Dokalam stand-off worked in India's favour, Navy Chief and the country's senior-most military officer Admiral Sunil Lanba said here on Tuesday.
 
“They have been very shrill in their comments. We have kept quiet and that worked for us," he said. The Navy chief responded to the reporter's queries on the Dokalam issue, on the sidelines of a seminar.
 
Asked about the disengagement process, Admiral Lanba who chairs the Chief of Staff Committee said he had nothing more to add to the statements released by the Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday.
 
The foreign office issued two statements making it clear that India and China had agreed on “expeditious disengagement” of border personnel at the face-off site at Dokalam Plateau on the basis of “diplomatic communication” between the two nations. It also said that New Delhi had been able to express its “views” and convey its “concerns and interests” to Beijing over the recent weeks. It also confirmed the withdrawal of troops by the two parties.
 
From the onset of the crisis, Indian military and diplomatic establishments were subdued in their responses unlike the Chinese authorities, who were using the state media to run a shrill media campaign against India. The Chinese media went to the extent of issuing war threats to India, but there were no responses from the Indian side.
 
The face-off started on June 18 when soldiers from Indian Army's forward post at Doka La in Sikkim went to Doklam Plateau to stop Chinese troops from constructing a road.
 
The People Liberation Army soldiers had started building the road near a disputed area close to India-Bhutan-China on June 16, brushing aside protests from Royal Bhutanese Army personnel deployed nearby. The intervention by Indian Army soldiers two days later resulted in the faceoff, which went on 72 days.