Border clash with China: India reports injuries on both sides in minor

   photo:reuters

NEW DELHI: Indian troops prevented Chinese soldiers from entering Indian territory on Dec 9 during a border scuffle that led to injuries on both sides, India's defence minister said on Tuesday (Dec 13), in the first such clash since 2020 between the Asian giants.

The incident occurred in the Tawang sector of India's northeastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh, which borders China's south and is also claimed by Beijing.

The Indian troops "illegally crossed the line to block" a routine patrol of Chinese border troops, a spokesperson from the Western Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson stated, "We implore the Indian side to strictly control and limit the front-line soldiers, and work with China to maintain peace and security on the border.

According to an Indian defence source who spoke to Reuters, patrolling squads from both sides encountered each other at one of the peaks and engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle that resulted in some soldiers falling to the ground and suffering injuries.

According to two further versions, a dozen or so Indian soldiers received minor wounds.

According to the defence source, because of the unmarked Line of Actual Control (LAC), soldiers from both sides occasionally enter each other's area. At order to prevent further escalation, such events are then brought up in flag meetings.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous since Rajnath Singh, the defence minister, had already spoken in parliament about an attempt by the PLA to penetrate Indian territory, added, "Sometimes we consider some places as ours, sometimes they do."

"These are minor skirmishes that continue to take place. This wasn't a big deal."

The source, who wished to remain anonymous since Rajnath Singh, the defence minister, had already spoken in parliament about an attempt by the PLA to penetrate Indian territory, added, "Sometimes we consider some places as ours, sometimes they do."

"These are minor skirmishes that continue to take place. This wasn't a big deal."

There were "a few personnel on both sides" who were hurt during the altercation, according to Singh, but there were "no significant casualties on our side."

In the Yangtse sector of the Tawang Sector, "PLA troops tried to transgress the LAC and unilaterally change the status quo," Singh claimed.

"Our troops resisted the Chinese attempt with firmness and resolve. The violent altercation that followed resulted in the Indian Army valiantly stopping the PLA from invading our nation and forcing them to return to their stations."

At a press conference, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, stated that the situation at the border was "mostly steady."

The foreign minister of India has stated that without border tranquilly, relations with China cannot return to normal. In spite of an increase in imports from China over the past two years, India has increased inspection of several Chinese businesses doing business there.

The fighting was the first between the two nations since the fatal skirmishes in June 2020, when Chinese and Indian troops engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, which is next to the Tibetan plateau controlled by China.

Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers died as a result of the incident.

Regarding the most recent tension, minister Singh said, "The Chinese side was requested to cease from such acts and maintain peace and tranquilly along the border." Through diplomatic channels, the problem has also been raised with China.

Before the battles two years ago, the 3,800 kilometre undefined border between the two nuclear-armed Asian superpowers had remained relatively calm since a war in 1962.