The Doklam crisis is not yet over as the Chinese maintain their presence in a nearby area, Shashi Tharoor, MP,who heads the Standing Committee on External Affairs, said on Monday.

At an event organised by the Anant Aspen Centre to discuss the report of the committee on the Doklam crisis of 2017 and India-China relations, he said India needed to upgrade infrastructure in the border area.

“The crisis is not fully over in the sense that though the Chinese have pulled back from the face-off point, they are still in the part of the plateau known as North Doklam and what is more, they have installed fairly permanent looking structures there which will enable them to station and provision much larger number of people than they have ever historically done. So clearly, they are keeping the powder dry for a future opportunity,” Mr. Tharoor said while presenting key points from the report that was presented to the Lok Sabha Speaker in September 2018.

The report was prepared after a team of MPs visited the Himalayan frontiers of India in the eastern and western sectors where they received extensive briefings from the military.

Mr. Tharoor pointed out that the committee sensed that there was a “malign” intention behind the intrusion by the Chinese troops during the Doklam crisis. He pointed out that the Special Representative-level dialogue between India and China was yet to deliver on the agenda, and urged for progress on solving the boundary question.

He said the committee felt that India must ramp up infrastructure near the Chinese territory to counter the build-up on their side, “We have strongly recommended that we should upgrade the border infrastructure. Our roads frankly are an embarrassment on our side. They are extremely impressive on the other side,” he said.