China, India at odds over trigger for troop brawl at disputed Himalayan border

Indian defence chief says PLA soldiers tried to ‘change the status quo’ at border flashpoint
Beijing says situation is stable after Indian troops ‘illegally’ crossed the border

China-India relations

Minnie Chan

Published: 7:36pm, 13 Dec 2022

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China and India have given conflicting accounts about the cause of a clash in a disputed Himalayan border region last week that left soldiers on both sides with minor injuries.

Long Shaohua, a spokesman from the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) Western Theatre Command, said the clash happened during a regular border patrol on Friday when Chinese troops were intercepted by their Indian counterparts, who were “illegally crossing the border”.

“Our troops’ response is professional, firm and standard, which has helped to stabilise the situation,” Long said on Tuesday. “Both sides have been under disengagement since then.”

China’s foreign ministry confirmed the clash happened last week, saying both Indian and Chinese troops suffered “minor injuries”.

“According to our knowledge, the situation on the border is generally stable,” Wang Wenbin, a ministry spokesperson, said in Beijing.

“The two sides have been maintaining smooth communication on border-related issues through diplomatic and military channels.”

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But India’s defence minister accused China of trying to “unilaterally change the status quo” along the contested frontier.

“[On December 9,] PLA troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo by encroaching on the Line of Actual Control, in the … Tawang sector,” Rajnath Singh said.

According to a statement from the Indian Army, the clash resulted in “minor injuries of personnel from both sides” after PLA troops “contacted” the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a loose demarcation that separates Chinese and Indian held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh is regarded by New Delhi as an Indian state, but Beijing claims about 90,000 sq km (35,000 square miles) of it as South Tibet.

Indian media said about 20 Indian soldiers and “a much higher number on the Chinese side” sustained minor injuries as the troops clashed in the highly sensitive Tawang sector, citing multiple sources in the country’s defence and security establishment.

The latest violence marked the most serious incident along the LAC since a deadly border clash in June 2020.

Yang Shu, former dean of Central Asian Studies at China’s Lanzhou University, said soaring nationalistic sentiment fuelled the latest clash.

“Both sides have been driven by nationalism in recent years, with the Indian military desiring to seek revenge, as the scars left by the 1962 bloody conflicts have yet to heal,” Yang said.

“I expect more brawls and even small-scale skirmishes will take place along the LAC if Beijing and New Delhi leadership fail to curb the irrational mood.”

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Yogesh Gupta, a former Indian ambassador to Denmark and a specialist in China-India relations, said the latest confrontation might have been triggered by recent joint military exercises held by Indian and American troops in October in Uttarakhand province, about 100km from the LAC.

He said also both sides immediately pulled back their troops last week as soon as soldiers were injured.

“There was no advance by the Chinese troops into the Indian territory,” Gupta said. “The troops of both sides pulled back and there was no major fighting, a certain restraint was observed.”

The 3,200km LAC between the two Asian giants was created after the 1962 India-China war, in which New Delhi was dealt a humiliating defeat. Troops on both sides have since adhered to long-standing protocols to refrain from using firearms.

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In June 2020, tensions spiked in the Karakoram mountain range in the Ladakh region as Indian and Chinese soldiers fought with stones, fists and clubs. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers died. The countries then stationed tens of thousands of troops backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets along the LAC.

After several meetings between military commanders on both sides, some soldiers pulled back from the key friction point in Ladakh, but tensions between the two countries have persisted.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse