(Eds: Updating with India's reax)By K J M VarmaBeijing/New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) An Indian drone "crossedover" the border with China and crashed in the Sikkim sectorwhich includes Dokalam after losing contact with the groundcontrol, prompting Beijing to lodge a diplomatic protest withIndia over the violation of China's territorial sovereignty.
China's Defence Ministry and the Ministry of ForeignAffairs said that the Indian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)crashed into the Chinese side of the border recently.
"Recently an Indian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) invadedChina's airspace and crashed in the Sikkim section of China-India border," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told amedia briefing here.
He said the Chinese border troops had taken a"professional and responsible attitude" to verify the device.
Geng did not spell out when the incident had taken place.
In New Delhi, India's defence ministry today said anunmanned aerial vehicle had "crossed over" the border withChina in the Sikkim sector after losing contact with theground control due to some technical problem.
It said the Indian border security personnel, as perstandard protocol, immediately alerted their Chinesecounterparts to locate the UAV and they later reverted withits location.
The defence ministry said the exact cause of the incidentis under investigation.
Sources said the UAV belonged to the Indian Army.
The incident comes to light days before Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi's visit to New Delhi to attend the Russia-India-China trilateral meeting.
"I want to point out that the Sikkim section of the ChinaIndia border has been delimited," Chinese Foreign ministryspokesman said, in an apparent reference to the 1890 China-British Treaty.
Beijing often referred to the 1890 Britain-China treatyduring the lengthy Dokalam standoff, stating that it hasdefined the Sikkim section of the boundary with Tibet,therefore the border in that area has been settled.
"The action of the Indian side violated China'ssovereignty and it is not conducive to the peace andtranquillity of the border area and China is dissatisfied withthis and lodged solemn representation with the Indian side,"Geng said.
In its diplomatic protest to India, "China asked theIndian side to stop the activities of the devices near theborder and work with China to maintain peace and tranquillityof the border areas", he said.
Geng declined to reveal the details of the drone. He didnot confirm whether the crash has taken place near the Dokalamwhere the two countries were locked in a 73-day-long borderstandoff which ended on August 28.
The standoff ended after Chinese troops stopped buildinga key road close to India's Chicken Neck corridor.
Asked whether the protest was lodged in Beijing or Delhi,he said he is not aware of the details. "I know that China haslodged solemn representation to the Indian side," he said.
Earlier, the Chinese military alleged that an Indiandrone has "intruded" into its airspace recently and crashedinto the Chinese side of the border and voiced strongdissatisfaction and opposition over the incident.
The Indian UAV "intruded" into China's airspace andcrashed recently, and China's border troops have conductedidentification and verification over the vehicle, ZhangShuili, deputy head of the combat bureau of the WesternTheatre Command's joint staff department said.
The Chinese military's western theatre commandjurisdiction covers all most all of the Line of Actual Control(LAC) and including Tibet's border region with India and theLadakh region.
"India's move has infringed upon China's territorialsovereignty, and we are strongly dissatisfied with and opposedto this," Zhang has been quoted by state-run Xinhua newsagency as saying.
"We will fulfil our mission and responsibility and defendChina's national sovereignty and security resolutely," hesaid.
Asked whether the drone issue would figure in Wang'stalks with Indian officials when he visits New Delhi, Gengsaid the "goal" of the Chinese foreign minister's visit was toattend the RIC meeting.
"When he is in India he will meet with the seniorofficials of the Indian side. At that time, the two sides willexchange views on China-India relations and other issues ofthe common concern," he said.
Wang's visit to Delhi will be the first visit by a topChinese official to India after the Dokalam crisis andcommencement of the second five-year term for ChinesePresident Xi Jinping. PTI KJV MPB MRJ ZH AKJZH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.