Is China's role in Manipur ambush impossible?

Chinese officials have refuted allegations of the country's army assisting militants in northeast India, saying such charges are "absurd" and such a linkage is "impossible".

Any claim that People's Liberation Army officers may be in touch with the leaders of an insurgent group -- Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang -- suspected to have been involved in a recent attack on Indian troops is "absurd", state-run Global Times reported quoting officials of the government-run think-tanks.

Experts believe that the existence of ties between the PLA and Indian militants is impossible, the report said.

Earlier, reports in Indian media quoted a senior Indian official as saying that NSCN-K abrogated its ceasefire pact with the Centre following instructions from the PLA. The Chinese foreign ministry has not commented on the allegations so far.

"The Indian media has long been a rumour monger when it comes to China's support for the insurgent groups in north eastern India," said Zhao Gancheng, director of the Centre for Asian-Pacific Studies at the state-run Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. "A connection between China and the Indian rebels is impossible, especially after India and China resumed diplomatic relationships in 1988," he said.

"The phone intercepts can prove nothing. It is hard to determine the identity of Chinese [officials] just by a phone conversation. It can be easily forged," said Wang Dehua, director of the Center for South Asian Studies at Tongji University.

Li Li, deputy director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, termed such reports as "absurd". "It is impossible for China to intervene in the domestic affairs of India, especially when the two countries' relationship is developing very well after (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's visit (to China last month)," Li added.