Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday said India and China must resolve their tense border standoff through talks, as the festering row showed no signs of easing.

“That (dialogue) is the only way,” the Nobel peace laureate said in the Indian capital.

“One side's retreat and defeat is an old-time thinking. In modern times, every country is dependent on each other,” he was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

“Destruction of neighbour is destruction of yourself ... India and China have to live side by side,” he added.

Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a standoff at a remote but strategically important Himalayan plateau near where Tibet, India and Bhutan meet.

The plateau gives China access to the so-called “chicken neck” — a thin strip of land connecting India's northeastern states with the rest of the country.

The row has festered for more than a month as Delhi and Beijing refuse to back down in the distant but key territory.

The 82-year-old Buddhist leader has lived in exile in India since he fled a failed Tibetan uprising nearly 60 years ago.

His presence in the country has long been an irritant in Delhi's already prickly ties with Beijing.