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Military trucks seen in the Ladakh region. Photo: Reuters

China-India border dispute: troops saw ‘minor’ clash amid ninth round of talks to resolve row

  • The Indian Army downplayed a face-off that took place last week in Sikkim, near Tibet, while Indian media reports claimed a brawl left troops from both sides injured
  • Beijing has yet to comment, but Global Times editor Hu Xijin said on Twitter that the reports were ‘fake news’
Indian and Chinese troops had a “minor” face-off last week in a disputed eastern Himalayan area of both countries’ borders, the Indian Army said on Monday, as both sides wrapped up the ninth round of border talks between senior military officers.

In a brief statement with few details, the army downplayed the intensity of the face-off that took place on Wednesday at the Naku La area in the northeastern region of Sikkim. Naku La connects Sikkim to China’s Tibet autonomous region.

“[The minor face-off] was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols,” it added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily briefing in Beijing on Monday he had “no information to offer” on the reports of clashes.

“I would like to stress, though, that China’s border troops are committed to upholding peace and tranquillity along the border with India,” Zhao said. “We urge the Indian side to work in the same direction with us and refrain from actions that might escalate or complicate the situation along the border.”

Zhao confirmed the conclusion of the latest round of talks.

China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that Chinese and Indian frontline commanders met for a new round of border talks on Sunday.

The statement said that the commanders agreed to “take effective measures to ensure restraint” and “work together to promote the de-escalation of the situation on the west section of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and to keep peace and tranquility”.

00:49

China urges India to exercise restraint after ‘minor’ clash at disputed border

China urges India to exercise restraint after ‘minor’ clash at disputed border

“Both sides agreed to push forward the disengagement of the frontline troops as soon as possible,” the statement said, adding a new round of talks would be held soon to “continue and maintain the momentum of dialogue”.

However Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Communist Party-backed Global Times, tweeted that the reports in Indian media were “fake news”. The reports said a Chinese patrol tried to cross into Indian territory and was forced back. They quoted Indian military officials as saying the Naku La face-off resulted in casualties on both sides – pegging the number of wounded Chinese soldiers at 20 and injured Indian soldiers at four.

“Small frictions often occur on the China-India border area, but the clash that caused multiple injuries will definitely be recorded,” said Hu, whose tweets are closely watched as giving an insight into Beijing’s thinking, even though his statements are not a reflection of official policy.

India and China share a 3,488km land border, known as the Line of Actual Control, but much of it is undemarcated, bringing disputes between patrolling soldiers that turn violent at times.

The China-India border dispute: its origins and impact

The Naku La point, at over 17,000 feet, lies at the northernmost tip of Sikkim state. The state is nestled between Nepal on the east, Bhutan on the west and China to its north.

Retired Lieutenant General Dr JS Bajwa, who served as the chief of staff in India’s eastern command between 2010 and 2012, under which Sikkim falls, said this area was particularly sensitive.

“At this point, Indian and Chinese claims overlap, and unlike in the remaining stretch, there are no physical markers to differentiate each other’s claims,” he said. “That is the crisis here.”

According to Bajwa, such disputes in the region were common. “The Chinese soldiers come to this spot to mark their point and reinforce their claims. Such incidents used to be resolved locally.”

China and India dig in at Himalayan border, with an eye on Washington

Naku La was also the site of a skirmish between troops last May, coming before a pitched battle at the glacial lake named Pangong Tso in the western Himalayan region of Ladakh, where soldiers fought with fists and wooden clubs. Indian officials said at least 20 Indian soldiers died while there were an unknown number of Chinese casualties.

Things escalated in September when the two sides accused each other of firing warning shots, breaking a 40-year practice of not using firearms. Bilateral tensions have in the past year sparked nationalistic furore in India and calls for greater decoupling from China, with New Delhi banning more than 200 mostly Chinese apps over national security concerns.

The Indian Army’s acknowledgement of the incident comes as thousands of troops remain locked in a tense stand-off in the western Himalayas that began nine months ago, and fuels concerns of a new eastern front opening up in the ongoing dispute.

Troops have been posted at various points along the LAC but in areas like Ladakh, they are reportedly eyeball-to-eyeball with tanks and other heavy ammunition lined up by both countries metres away from each other.

The most recent round of de-escalation talks between military commanders from both sides lasted 16 hours in the Ladakh region’s Chushul-Moldo area.

It was the first such interaction between the military commanders since November and the longest gap in negotiations since May last year.

China-India border dispute: new village near Tibet sparks talk of eastern front

China and India, who fought a border war in 1962, have blamed each other for escalating tensions and boosted troops at the border.

In 1967, multiple violent clashes broke out in Sikkim’s Nathu La and Cho La passes, killing more than 300 Chinese soldiers and 200 Indian soldiers.

Retired military officials and defence analysts have said the latest stand-off raises fears of more skirmishes occurring in the future, even though both sides previously agreed frontline troops would “exercise restraint and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation”.

Reports about the construction of a new Chinese village with 101 homes in territory claimed by both sides but controlled by China, along India’s Arunachal Pradesh, have also raised fresh tensions.

Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh had on Friday said that India will not reduce troops along the friction points “unless China reduces the deployment of troops on its side”.

03:06

India pushes to build roads near Chinese border, in a bid to boost infrastructure in border areas

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Long Xingchun, president of the Chengdu Institute of World Affairs, a think tank based in Sichuan, said neither side had been willing to make concessions so far and that the conflict would likely continue as both sides dug in their heels.

“Concessions would only be made when the conflicts are escalated to a potential point of no return,” Long said.

“And due to the tense China-US rivalry, China has had to focus more on countering the United States, leaving a power void that India has taken advantage of for its interests,” he said. “The [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi government has also been forced to take a more hawkish stance towards China due to domestic pressure.”

However, analysts like Bajwa, the retired Indian general, said that the fresh clash might not drive up tensions. “The fact that both countries are playing down the incident indicates it was not as serious as the kind we saw in Galwan last year.”

Additional reporting by AFP, Bloomberg, Kristin Huang and Liu Zhen

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: China, India soldiers in ‘minor’ clash on frontier
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