India loses 300 square km to China after bloody summer in Himalayas, officials say
- Chinese soldiers now reportedly prevent Indian patrols entering an area five times the size of Manhattan near the two countries’ disputed border
- The last six months have effectively drawn new battle lines across a freezing high-altitude desert, raising tensions to their highest point in decades
A summer of fighting saw India lose control over about 300 square kilometres of land along the disputed mountainous terrain, according to Indian officials familiar with the situation. Chinese soldiers now prevent Indian patrols in the area, which is about five times the size of Manhattan.
The last six months have effectively drawn new battle lines across a freezing high-altitude desert, raising tensions to their highest point since India and China fought a war in the area six decades ago. Both armies are now preparing to stand their ground in mostly uninhabited terrain during winter months in which temperatures can drop to 40 degrees Celsius below zero.
“We have not seen an expanded winter deployment since the 1962 war,” said Lieutenant General D. S. Hooda, a former Northern Army commander who was responsible for an area that stretches across the Himalayas to the highest pass between India and China at 5,540 metres.
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“Both countries are digging in,” he said. “It tells us that attitudes are hardening and thereby we could see an extended period of tensions that could have unintended consequences.”