India returns ‘stray’ soldier to China troops in disputed border region
- PLA confirms corporal who ended up on Indian side of Himalayan line of control has been handed back
- Soldier was on the trail of a lost yak in latest case of animals and people drifting across contested border region
“According to an agreement reached by China and India, a Chinese soldier who was asked by herders to help find a lost yak was handed over by India to Chinese border troops on the morning of October 21,” according to a news bulletin issued by official armed forces newspaper People’s Liberation Army Daily.
The soldier was “apprehended” on Monday on the side of the Demchok area of Ladakh controlled by India after he “strayed” across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), according to a statement from the Indian Army which identified him as Corporal Wang Ya Long.
The statement said India would return the soldier, who was provided with food and medical help, to the Chinese military at the Chushul-Moldo meeting point. The Indian report was followed up by the PLA which said in a statement issued on Monday evening that the soldier had been helping a local herdsman to find a lost yak on Sunday.
Straying cattle, and personnel, have drifted across the contested region since the border conflict between China and India erupted in May. In September, the Indian army tweeted that it had returned 13 yaks and four calves a week after they crossed the LAC in a “gesture of goodwill” towards the Chinese side.
