Amid Army face-off with India, China sets up blood donation camps in Doklam area

Beijing: In the wake of an Army face-off and chill in ties with India over Doklam standoff, China is reportedly setting up blood donation and collection camps in the area.

Amid simmering border tension over Doklam in Sikkim, state-run Chinese daily Global Times reported that a hospital in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, has relocated its blood bank on the orders of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).

The Chinese daily reported, "Many hospitals in different provinces are controlling the use of blood, and according to a reliable anonymous source from a hospital in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, the blood bank has been relocated by the PLA and the local government is organizing a blood drive to replenish supplies."

The same is also true of some other top hospitals in Hubei Province, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to multiple sources from these regions. The stocks of blood were transferred before the Jiuzhaigou earthquake in Sichuan Province on August 8, and they are likely to be transferred to Tibet, the Global Times quoted a source as saying.

The Chinese media outlets have been spewing venom against India, ever since the two Asian giants got engaged in the standoff in the Doklam area near the Bhutan tri-junction since June after a Chinese Army's construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doklam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.

India has said Beijing's action to "unilaterally determine tri-junction points" violated a 2012 India-China pact which says the boundary would be decided by consulting all the concerned parties.

The two countries share a little over 200 km of border in the Sikkim sector.