The India–China standoff at Doklam is “not a very serious” issue, the Dalai Lama today said stressing that the two countries have to live side by side.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said there are periods when the two neighbours use “harsh words”, but the spirit of “Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai” is the only way forward. “I do not think it is very serious. India and China have to live side by side,” the Dalai Lama said on the Doklam standoff at an event here, even as he added that “propaganda makes things complicated”.

“Even in 1962, Chinese forces which reached Bomdilla, eventually withdrew. India and China have to live side by side,” he said while speaking at the Rajendra Mathur Memorial Lecture organised by the Editors Guild of India.

India and China have been locked in a face-off in the Doklam area of the Sikkim sector for more than 50 days after Indian troops stopped the Chinese Army from building a road in the area.

China claimed it was constructing the road within its territory and has been demanding immediate withdrawal of the Indian troops from the disputed Doklam plateau. Bhutan says Doklam belongs to it but China claims it to be its territory and says Thimphu has no dispute with Beijing over it.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had recently said both sides should first pull back their troops for any talks to take place, favouring a peaceful resolution of the border standoff.