Will break any Chinese wall in our territory: Rajnath

• India, China begin joint army exercise in Pune
• 'Big guy' China is committed to peace, says Xi

Kanha Chatti: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday warned China against constructing roads in Indian territory while maintaining that New Delhi wants cordial ties with its neighbours.

Asked what if China continues to carry out construction of roads on Indian side, Singh said our forces will be left with no alternative but to "break" any such construction.

"China must end its practice of infiltrating Indian territory and construction of roads on our side. We want to maintain good relations with China and it must respect our sentiment," he said while addressing a public in Jharkhand.

Singh warned China against constructing roads in Indian territory while maintaining that New Delhi wants cordial ties with its neighbours.

Sending out a message of a stronger India emerging under the BJP regime, Singh said if China continues construction of roads on Indian side, there will be no alternative left with India but to "break" them as a last resort. Continued incursions by Chinese troops into Indian side have led to high tension along the border. The matter of incursions came up when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in New Delhi recently.

Meanwhile, India and China on Monday began their joint "Hand-in-Hand" army exercise focusing on counter- insurgency and counter-terrorism tactics, weeks after a stand-off between their troops along the border in Ladakh region.

"Hand-in-Hand" is an exercise aimed at exploring useful experiences, advancing pragmatic cooperation and promoting a friendly environment between the two armies and is being held in Pune.

The first such annual exercise was held at Kunming in China in December 2007 while the second was held at Belgaum in December 2008.

However, there was a gap of five years till an exercise was held in China's Chengdu area last year in which a group of 160 personnel from Indian Army's 16 Sikh Light Infantry had participated.

The Chinese contingent from the 13 Group Army, Chengdu Military Region comprising one infantry company along with supporting staff, landed at the Lohegaon airfield in Pune in two IL-76 aircraft directly from China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed always to use peaceful means in pursuit of Beijing's goals, including in maritime disputes, just days after US President Barack Obama warned of the dangers of outright conflict in Asia.

Addressing the Australian parliament in an honour bestowed only on one other Chinese leader, Hu Jintao in 2003, Xi said: "China remains unshakable in its resolve to pursue peaceful development."

"Neither turbulence nor war serves the fundamental interests of the Chinese people."

"There's only one trend in today's world, that is, the trend of peace and development and win/win cooperation," he added in a candid address in which he also reminisced about kangaroos and koala encounters during previous visits to Australia.