New Delhi: India’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it had asked China to withdraw troops who allegedly advanced into disputed territory claimed by New Delhi in a remote area of the Himalayas.

“We have asked the Chinese side to maintain the status quo in this sector [of the western border],” spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told a briefing. “By this I mean the status quo prior to this incident.”

He stressed that there were differing perceptions of the undefined frontier at the limit of the Buddhist-majority Indian region of Ladakh which is a source of friction between the neighbours.

He said that mechanisms existed to resolve border problems peacefully and that if troops were to come face-to-face “they shall exercise safe restraint and take all necessary steps to avoid an escalation of the situation”.

Akbaruddin added that the Chinese ambassador to New Delhi had been summoned over the alleged incursion on April 15 when a platoon of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is said to have advanced and erected a camp.

Meetings between local commanders are underway to resolve the incident.

“I would like to say we have all resolved all previous incidents peacefully and it is our hope that we would resolve this incident too peacefully,” Akbaruddin added.

China has denied that its troops violated Indian territory or that it is contravening accords signed in 1993 and 1996 between the countries to maintain peace along the so-called Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Responding to suggestions in Beijing that the alleged incursion was mere “speculation”, Akbaruddin replied: “It is not something that we have conjured up.”

Tension at the border is a regular feature and the Indian press frequently reports on movements by Chinese troops as well as the build-up of Chinese military forces and infrastructure in frontier areas of Tibet.

Relations between the giant neighbours are often prickly and marked by mutual suspicion - a legacy of a brief border war in 1962 that was waged in Ladakh and in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

India’s The Hindu newspaper reported recently that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was set to visit New Delhi next month as part of efforts to boost ties between the world’s most populous countries.

The apparent movement of Chinese troops is likely to add to concerns among China’s neighbours about Beijing’s respect for its current borders as a long list of regional troublespots lengthens.

China is at odds with Vietnam and the Philippines among others around the South China Sea. It also has a territorial dispute with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, and the Japanese prime minister vowed Tuesday to “expel by force” any Chinese landing on the isles at the centre of the row.