China said on Thursday that diplomatic channels with India remained “unimpeded” to discuss the military stand-off in Sikkim sector but reiterated that the withdrawal of the Indian troops from Doklam area is a “precondition” for any meaningful dialogue.

“Our diplomatic channel is unimpeded,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters, confirming talks between Indian and Chinese missions to resolve the standoff.

Mr. Lu, however, reiterated that “the withdrawal of the Indian border personnel is the precondition for any meaningful dialogue and communication between the two countries”.

In New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the matter can be resolved through talks.

“We are willing to talk, but both sides have to first take back their armies,” she told the Rajya Sabha.

The minister said the boundaries between India and China are yet to be finalised and the two countries will do that bilaterally through discussions, while the same between China and Bhutan too will be done through bilateral talks. She accused China of building roads using bulldozers and excavators, which has been protested by Bhutan in writing to China.

Chinese and Indian soldiers have been locked in a face-off for over a month after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from constructing a road near the Doklam plateau, fearing it may allow China to cut India’s access to its northeastern states.

India has conveyed to China that the construction of the road would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for New Delhi.

India and China share a 220-km-long border in Sikkim.

Mr. Lu claimed that the incident makes it clear that “Indian border personnel illegally trespassed into China’s territory.”

The standoff is expected to figure prominently during the visit of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to Beijing for the meeting of NSAs from BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — countries from July 26—27.

Chinese officials say while there may not be a formal meeting between Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, there can be informal talks between the two officials, who are also the Special Representatives of their countries for the border talks.

Both countries have so far held 19 rounds of talks.

Earlier this month, China had refused to acknowledge that Chinese President Xi Jinping even met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany as the standoff continued.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs, however, the said that the two leaders met and discussed a “range of issues”.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he never would have hired Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he had known the top law official would recuse himself from a probe into Russia’s alleged election meddling.

In an interview with the New York Times, the president also criticized Sessions’ confirmation testimony in the US senate, in which Sessions denied “communications with the Russians” despite at least two meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign.

“Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers,” the president told the Times.

“He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren’t.”

Sessions recused himself from overseeing the Russian probe in March after the Washington Post revealed the meetings with Kislyak.

But Trump said Sessions had acted unfairly in taking the job in the first place if he had felt in any way compromised.

“How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you,'” Trump said.

“It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”

In an appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, Sessions vehemently denied any collusion with Russia to tilt last year’s US election in Trump’s favor, branding the suggestion an “appalling and detestable lie.”

He also engaged in testy exchanges with several senators who pressed him for details on his discussions with Trump — which he refused to provide in the name of confidentiality.

The interview comes as Trump reaches the six-month mark of his presidency, and amid reports that a senate panel next week will grill three of the pivotal players in his 2016 presidential campaign — including his eldest son — over allegations of the campaign’s collusion with Russia.

The US is “closely and carefully” following the border standoff between India and China, the Trump administration said today, urging the two Asian countries to engage in direct dialogue to reduce the tension.

“This is a situation that we are following closely and carefully. I’d have to refer you to the governments of India and China for more information on that,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.

She said Indian and China were talking on the issue.

“(And) they’re going to talk to one another,” she said, referring to the visit of India’s National Security Adviser Ajit K Doval to Beijing for a meeting of the NSAs from BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — on July 27-28.

“We would encourage them to engage in direct dialogue aimed at reducing tensions,” Ms. Nauert said.

India said on Thursday it was ready for talks with China but both sides first pull back their armies to end the tense standoff in the Sikkim sector, and called for a “peaceful resolution” of the border issues between the countries.

China responded that the diplomatic channels with India remained “unimpeded” but reiterated that the withdrawal of the Indian troops from Doklam area is a “precondition” for any meaningful dialogue.

Chinese and Indian soldiers have been locked in a face-off in Doklam area in the southernmost part of Tibet for over a month after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road, fearing it may allow China to cut India’s access to its northeastern states.

India has conveyed to China that the construction of the road would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for New Delhi.