New Delhi:A day after China warned India over the ongoing border face-off with an oblique reference to the 1962 war that ended in an Indian defeat, defence minister Arun Jaitley retorted on Friday that the India of 2017 is not what it was 55 years ago.

“If they are trying to remind us, the situation in 1962 was different, the India of today is different,“ said Jaitley at an event here on Friday , adding that it was “absolutely wrong“ for China to try to claim a slice of Bhutanese territory in violation of in ternational agreements.

He also made it clear that India would block China's efforts to alter status quo and build a road through the Bhutanese territory till the Sikkim Bhutan-India tri-junction.

The defence minister's tough talk came even as the ministry of external affairs issued an equally strong statement asking China to desist from changing the ground situation in the Doklam Plateau. In its first comments since the stand-off became public, the MEA said, “India is deeply concerned at the recent Chinese actions and has conveyed to the Chinese government that such construction (of the road) would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for India.“ India said on Friday that China's attempt to build a road through the Bhutanese territory violated a written understanding worked out in 2012. According to the international pact, the “tri-junction boundary points between India, China and third countries were to be finalised in consultation with all the countries concerned. “Any attempt, therefore, to unilaterally determine tri-junction points is in violation of this understanding,“ the Centre said.

India's strong response to China's actions underline its commitment to backing Bhutan's claim that its territorial sovereignty has been violated and protecting India`s own strategic interests at the sensitive tri-junction.“In coordination with the RGOB, Indian personnel, who were present at Doka La, approached the Chinese construction party and urged them to desist from changing the status quo. These efforts continue,“ the Centre said.

The message, from China's perspective, could be to signal that the Modi-Trump bonhomie in Washington left it unimpressed and that it would not curb its actions along the border and the Line of Actual Control.

India's aim, as outlined by its official response and military presence, is to firmly push back the Chinese intruders without escalating the confrontation. Even the official remarks are a response to Beijing's challenging rhetoric and angry com mentary in China's government-influenced media asking India to give up “stubborn geo-politics“.

“After the statement of the government of Bhutan, I think the situation is absolutely clear. It is Bhutan's land, close to the Indian border, and Bhutan and India have an arrangement to provide security,“ defence minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday .

He added that “Bhutan has itself clarified...China is trying to alter the present status-quo. After this, I think the issue is absolutely clear.To say we will come there and grab the land of some other country is what China is doing and it is absolutely wrong“.

The genesis of the ongoing confrontation in the remote border region was an attempt by the People's Liberation Army , backed by construction workers and heavy earth-moving equipment like bulldozers, to build a motorable road till Zomplri in the Doklam Plateau earlier this month, as was reported by TOI.

When Indian troops proactively blocked the move, PLA soldiers destroyed two Indian bunkers in retaliation and then shut down the Nathu La Pass. If Indian troops allowed the road to be constructed, India would lose its strategic advantage at the tri-junction while also allowing the PLA to militarily threaten the vulnerable Siliguri Corridor or the so-called “Chicken's Neck“ area, the narrow strip of land that connects the rest of India with its north-eastern states.